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Meet Michael Warren, Black country singer, songwriter performing at CMA Fest, taking the genre by storm
Country music stations are rocking to the brim with newly released songs by a blend of genre veterans and new artists, but few singers find themselves chart-topping and successful.
The music industry is cut-throat and not for the weak of heart.
Michael Warren, 41, a country music singer and songwriter from Hoover, Alabama, was discovered by many fans when he earned his spot at the top of a number of Spotify channels, and his story is unique in the way that this is his second go at the music industry.
“I feel like I got a second lease on life,” Warren told Fox News Digital during a video interview.
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Michael Warren, country singer and songwriter from Hoover, Alabama, is performing at CMA Fest 2024 for the first time. (Lauren Abram’s; Michael Warren)
When Warren was in college, he received the call of a lifetime from Grammy award-winning artist Toni Braxton. The “Un-Break My Heart” singer hoped to record some of Warren’s songs. However, backpedaling to where it all began, Warren recalls that his immersion into music began during his formative years, long before his opportunity with a former subsidiary of Atlantic Records, Atlantic Songs.
“I started music at a very, very young age,” Warren recalls. “I instantly gravitated toward the writing.”
The country music singer credits his dad, a former band member at the University of Notre Dame, for his passion for music. In their basement at any given time, Warren said he could find 800 records from megastars, from Willie Nelson to Earth Wind & Fire to James Taylor and Michael Jackson.
“Growing up in that household, we had so many different musical influences,” Warren said.
In middle school, Warren and his buddies channeled their love for performing on the school playgrounds and sang their hearts out to the schoolgirls.
“We thought we were Boyz II Men,” Warren laughed. “I fell in love with it.”
From there, he joined the church choir, where he says he started taking music seriously.
During his two years in junior college, Warren says he didn’t socialize much.
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“I locked myself in my bedroom, and picked up my guitar, and figured out how to play the guitar,” he said. Two years later, Warren enrolled at the University of Alabama, where he scored understated gigs in the dorm room common areas, birthday parties and house parties.
“I actually spent more time playing the guitar than I did going to class, and luckily my dad didn’t get too mad about it,” Warren said.
As Warren became a hometown favorite, he leaped from the corridors of the bustling dorm hallways to the big college bars at Mississippi State and Auburn, among other schools, and then found himself invited to fraternity and sorority parties.
Late at night, Warren hunkered down with his dad’s camcorder and recorded his own audio. He recalls that sometimes, his dad would accompany him on all-nighters to handwrite his information on burned CDs featuring original songs. Warren burned 300 to 400 CDs at a time and prowled outside popular bars at the University of Alabama to hand only girls his originals.
“I knew if I got the girls to the show, guys would come,” he said.
Michael Warren told FOX News Digital he immersed himself in music at a very young age. (Lauren Abrams)
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Unbeknownst to him, Warren’s music traveled to New York City, and Craig Kallman, chairman and CEO of Atlantic Records, was so impressed that he called Warren himself – a handful of times.
“I get a call on my cell phone from the president of Atlantic Records on a Sunday. I’ll never forget it,” Warren said. “I thought it was my friends pranking me, so I kept hanging up the phone. But he kept calling me back.”
Though he left that meeting with no record or publishing deal – or a commitment to a follow-up – Warren was hell-bent on making the most of this moment and emailed Kallman for four weeks. He offered his work ethic to Atlantic Records in any capacity and even pledged to work in the mailroom.
“I just wanted to get into the game,” he said.
From there, Warren signed a songwriting deal, which turned into a personal call from Braxton for a song he had written in his mom’s kitchen.
“That was the first big break in my music career,” Warren said. “Toni Braxton is the queen, in my opinion.”
Since then, he has written songs for Jennifer Lopez, Flo Rida, Akon and Cody Simpson, among others.
“I guess my path was supposed to be that,” Warren said. “Next thing you know, I’m putting out these songs, I’m getting these incredible rights.”
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He added that gratitude is a trouble-free emotion to come by daily, and that every step of his journey, especially the hard times, is worth celebrating.
“To see my name within these playlists and show posters and shows with people that I looked up to,” Warren said. “To see it actually come true; it’s like sometimes you just have to step back, because all the things that I’ve dreamed about, I’m actually living them right now. Sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of everything, you have to take time to appreciate where you were, what you prayed to God for, and that he delivered it.”
Today, Warren is gearing up for his first set at CMA Fest on Friday, where he’ll be performing for his growing collection of fans at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, in Nashville, for Spotify House.
“CMA Fest is incredible. This is what everybody wants to do,” he said. “I remember going to Spotify House last year at Ole Red’s. I was in the crowd. Fast-forward a year later, a lot of hard work, and I’m at Spotify House, CMA Fest, main stage.”
Warren and his band crafted a 25-minute set and will perform at 11 a.m.
“I think if you work hard, and you’re consistent, and you’re driven, and you have the talent and ability, I think that you should have the chance and a seat at the table,” he said. “I think that if you aren’t good, you shouldn’t have a seat at the table.”
Warren said that despite racial setbacks in the past, he feels Nashville has opened its arms wide to him, and he is enthusiastic about their acceptance of him and his music.
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Michael Warren has written songs recorded by Toni Braxton, Jennifer Lopez, Cody Simpson and more. (Michael Warren)
“The way that I look at things is like, obstacles? That’s cool. Put them in front of me. I’m gonna keep going. I’m not gonna stop,” he said. “This year and last year, it was obvious things have changed, and the arms are open.”
He thanks Darius Rucker and other Black, White and Hispanic artists who have broken down barriers and produced inclusivity across the country genre.
Presently, Warren is independent and unsigned to a label. However, the greatest moment he dreams of is playing on the road with Rucker.
“He inspired me and so many others to break down some barriers and be our true selves,” Warren said. “I think I could be the guy that Darius hands his torch over to.”
As for his own playlist, Warren is a fan of music by Morgan Wallen, which he feels is timeless, and he hopes to be face-to-face with the “Whiskey Glasses” singer someday.
“He’s the king of this thing right now,” Warren said. “I love Morgan, Wallen because it’s small-town stories, it’s country, but he’s also able to incorporate pop artists and rappers into his music.”
Warren is working on a full body of work himself and plans to tell his story through self-written music on a 10- to 12-song album soon.
“This music industry is hard in general. So, every artist that’s out there that’s Black, White, Hispanic, this is hard,” he said. “If it happens tomorrow, cool. If it happens five years from now, cool.”
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Southeast
Virginia prosecutor’s record on violent offenders scrutinized after illegal immigrant charged in mom’s murder
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A prosecutor in Virginia is facing criticism after a Fairfax County Police Department officer warned the county’s commonwealth attorney about a criminal illegal immigrant who has racked up over 30 arrests before allegedly killing a mother.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s office, however, was warned several times about how dangerous Jalloh is, and dismissed many of his previous criminal charges.
Jalloh’s case is far from the only controversial actions by Descano’s office, which even includes a plea deal with a murder suspect that allows him the chance at freedom.
POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED VIRGINIA MOTHER
Here’s a list of controversial cases handled by Descano’s office:
Abdul Jalloh
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fox 5 DC)
Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. The victim, 41-year-old Stephanie Minter, was found dead with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Jalloh has a violent rapsheet dating back to 2014 and includes over 30 arrests with several charges dismissed by Descano’s office.
Jalloh was arrested the next day while he was allegedly trying to steal from a liquor store when an employee called 911. Officials said Jalloh came to the U.S. illegally in 2012 from Sierra Leone under the Obama administration.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Jalloh in 2020, and he was later issued a final order of removal allowing him to be deported to any country other than Sierra Leone. Despite that order, he was not deported.
A police major for the Fairfax County Police Department even warned Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano about Jalloh on at least three separate occasions, according to emails obtained by WJLA.
In one email to Fairfax County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands, the police major said Jalloh “is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders” that they had discussed before.
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Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano speaking at an event. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
“I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe 5 years) was pursued by your office? Unfortunately, based on MTV Station’s numerous dealings with him, it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe, prompts me to follow up on his status,” the major wrote.
A Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the office “was aware of Jalloh’s criminal history and shared police concerns about potential future dangerousness. That is why our Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney personally handled these cases.”
The spokesperson added that prosecutors “will often explore many different pathways to successful prosecution, but, at the end of the day, our decisions are constrained by what testimony is available and what is legally permissible and practicable in Fairfax courts.”
Joshua Danehower
In 2022, Joshua Danehower was arrested for the murder of Gret Glyer. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)
In 2022, Danehower was charged with Gret Glyer’s murder. According to WUSA 9, Glyer, who owned the donation platform DonorSee, was shot 10 times as he slept next to his wife on June 24, 2022.
Prosecutors alleged Danehower killed Glyer because of an obsession with his wife. The suspect allegedly became fixated with her after a church function, and according to her family, the two had gone on a date about a decade ago.
Danehower was given a plea deal by Descano’s office, which found him not guilty by reason of insanity in February.
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Virginia law requires Danehower to be sent to a psychiatric hospital, where his status will be evaluated on an annual basis for the next five years, then every two years afterward. If he’s deemed no longer a threat to himself or others, he’d have an opportunity to be released from the psychiatric hospital.
Heather Glyer, the victim’s wife, said while on the witness stand, “I was robbed of my life partner.”
“My kids were robbed of their father,” she added.
Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron
Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron pleaded guilty to lesser charges. (DHS)
In January 2025, according to a report by former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Ramos-Giron, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, choked his ex-wife during an argument and pulled out a knife.
He was charged with felony abduction by force, felony strangulation, and misdemeanor assault and battery against a family member after the incident, but Descano’s office allowed him to plead to lesser charges of misdemeanor battery and brandishing a bladed weapon.
In a statement released by Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Deputy Chief of Staff and Public Information Officer Laura Birnbaum, according to the report, the plea agreement “achieved the outcomes that the victim wanted.”
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However, when the victim spoke with 7News, she refuted Birnbaum’s statement, saying she didn’t agree to the plea deal.
“He’s dangerous,” she said, fearing another violent incident would happen.
“If I die, who is going to take care of them?” the victim asked, referring to her children.
Ronnie Reel
Ronnie Reel accepted a plea deal by Fairfax county prosecutors. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)
In July 2021, Reel was arrested on charges of sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual battery against a minor, according to the Fairfax County Times.
During Reel’s trial on Sept. 13, 2022, Chief Judge of the Fairfax County Circuit Court Penney Azcarate ruled that the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s office had missed an evidentiary deadline, meaning confessions, including a call from Reel to a defendant’s mother where he allegedly confessed, as well as other evidence and witnesses couldn’t be used in court.
According to the outlet, that meant the case would rely on the victim’s testimony entirely.
As a result, Reel was offered a plea deal and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and was sentenced to one year in prison, but was released on time served. He also wasn’t required to register as a sex offender, according to FOX 5.
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The mother, who asked to be identified as Amber, told FOX 5 the case has had a big impact on her son.
“I was really upset. This is my child, this is my baby,” she said while crying. “And he got no justice. So he continues to see me cry and everything. He held his own, he stayed strong. He’s always trying to be strong for mom.”
“He was confessing every little detail that he did, and it was making me sick to my stomach,” she added. “It was horrible. He literally confessed to me why he did it.”
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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Immigration enforcement is a core federal power. Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress has the duty to write our federal immigration laws. Under Article II, the President has the duty to enforce them. States cannot meddle and certainly not obstruct. Unfortunately, many Democrat states, especially Virginia, are on a deadly collision course with the federal government.
American voters gave President Trump and the Republican-led Congress a broad electoral mandate to reverse the disaster the Biden-Harris border policy caused in every state in America by mass importing as many as 20 million illegal aliens, including the worst of the worst around the world.
Activist judges and other Democrat politicians and election deniers have done everything they can fathom to thwart Trump’s constitutional duty to expel these dangerous illegal aliens.
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The latest example is Virginia, which is passing a series of unconstitutional laws that would dangerously and illegally obstruct ICE. These proposals include criminal penalties, meaning that state law enforcement would attempt to arrest and jail ICE agents for simply doing their jobs.
This effort is seditious, insurrectionist, extremely dangerous and blatantly unconstitutional. For the sake of the Republic, the Justice Department must immediately and aggressively quell this Virginia seditious conspiracy.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Davis Spanberger laughs aloud during a ceremony in a Virginia court in Richmond. (Mike Kropf-Pool/Getty Images)
Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano is the Soros puppet Democrat prosecutor in the DC suburb, an uber-wealthy Democrat enclave that is an albatross around Virginia’s neck. Abdul Jalloh is an illegal alien who invaded our country in 2012. Jalloh settled in Virginia and began wreaking havoc on the good citizens there, racking up a whopping 30 arrests. These included one for rape and four charges for stabbing Americans.
Yet, thanks to the willful ineptitude of Fairfax County’s Democrat regime, Jalloh only had one felony conviction. He violated his probation, spent three months in jail and went free because of a deal between his lawyer and Descano’s office. Sanctuary jurisdictions like Fairfax County do not notify ICE when detaining or releasing illegals like Jalloh, who had a final order of removal from 2020.
Police in Fairfax repeatedly warned Descano’s office via email that Jalloh’s release would endanger the public, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Earlier this week, Jalloh allegedly stabbed to death 41-year-old innocent mother Stephanie Minter at a bus stop.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran as a moderate Democrat. But after her inauguration this year, she immediately showed her true leftist colors. She issued an order prohibiting cooperation between state officials and ICE.
Several anti-ICE bills await Spanberger’s signature: (1) a prohibition against ICE arrests at courthouses (where these alleged dangerous criminal illegals visit daily); (2) a prohibition against ICE arrests within 40 feet of polling places (where illegals violate federal criminal laws by voting); and (3) criminal penalties for ICE agents who wear masks (because they don’t want to get doxxed and killed).
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
If Spanberger signs these unconstitutional state laws, the Trump Justice Department should immediately sue and seek to enjoin them in court. A Virginia federal judge should issue an injunction, following the lead of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which fully stayed California’s unconstitutional prohibition against ICE agents’ use of masks.
But civil enforcement is not enough. Virginia Democrat officials plotting to arrest ICE agents for doing their jobs (seditious conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 2384) — and especially those who cause the arrests (insurrection under 18 U.S.C. § 2383, assault, kidnapping, harboring, conspiracy, and more) — must go to federal prison for their serious federal felonies. If anyone gets killed in a deadly standoff between these new Virginia confederates and ICE, these Virginia Democrat officials must face felony murder charges.
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Former President Biden and his missing-in-action border czar Kamala Harris allowed millions of illegal immigrants, including the most violent and dangerous criminals in the world, to pour across our borders. Trump is doing everything in his power to fulfill his broad electoral mandate and undo the damage by arresting and deporting these illegals.
Virginia’s proposed laws do not merely prohibit communication between state officials and ICE; rather, they criminalize federal law enforcement actions that are plainly within the scope of federal immigration enforcement power.
Abdul Jalloh has racked up over 30 arrests since entering the U.S., according to officials. (DHS)
States do not have to help ICE by, for instance, providing law enforcement resources to assist in ICE apprehensions of illegals. But states certainly cannot subvert or obstruct these federal efforts. This is especially true of Virginia’s attempt to arrest ICE agents in the line of duty, which could justify their use of deadly force.
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Virginia’s attempt to subvert and obstruct federal law must fail. We fought the Civil War because the Confederacy, headquartered in Virginia, sought to nullify federal law with respect to slavery. Today’s Virginia Democrats are reverting to their confederate roots.
Just as the federal government did during the Civil War and for a century after when segregationist states continued their efforts to nullify federal law, the federal government now must stand strong against Virginia’s sedition and insurrection. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution makes plain that federal law is supreme in areas where the federal government has authority.
If Virginia gets away with effectively nullifying federal immigration enforcement, other states can nullify any other federal law that it finds distasteful. Let’s hope Abigail Spanberger comes to her senses and vetoes this insanity. If she does not, the federal government must use all tools at its disposal, including the Insurrection Act of 1807 and other federal criminal statutes, to preserve federal law.
Virginia state officials must go to federal prison for engaging in seditious conspiracy, insurrections and other very serious federal felonies. Anything less would threaten the existence of the Republic.
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South Carolina pastor describes evacuating members from Middle East after war broke out during Israel trip
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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. – Dozens of members of a South Carolina church are finally back in the United States after Operation Epic Fury left them stranded in Israel for nearly a week after their flight was supposed to depart.
Forty members of Calvary Chapel Summerville landed in Israel on Feb. 20 for eight days of exploration in the Holy Land.
The group was set to fly home on Feb. 28 and had arrived at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. The attack prompted the closure of Israel’s airspace and the group had to evacuate the airport.
“It felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders and I just prayed and prayed and prayed and asked God to give me wisdom,” said Vic Carroll, pastor at Calvary Chapel Summerville in South Carolina.
TRAVELERS STRANDED IN DUBAI PAYING HUGE SUMS TO FLEE ON PRIVATE CHARTER FLIGHTS AMID OPERATION EPIC FURY
Members of Calvary Chapel Summerville visit Al-Khazneh in Petra. (Melanie Carroll)
Carroll said the group had to shelter-in-place in Israel, going in and out of bomb shelters for several days. He then had to face the decision of the group staying or taking a bus to Jordan to have a shot at getting a flight back to the United States.
“We ultimately, you know, made the decision between what was bad and what was worse. I thought the worst would be to stay,” the pastor said.
“We were instructed that if a siren goes off while we were on the road, the bus would pull over, we would all need to get on the ground, lay on the ground face-down for at least 10 minutes until the threat was gone, and then be on our way,” he continued.
STATE DEPARTMENT USES PATRIOTS TEAM PLANE TO EVACUATE AMERICANS FROM MIDDLE EAST
The members of Calvary Chapel Summerville sightseeing in the Holy Land. (Melanie Carroll)
Fortunately, that did not happen and the group made it to the airport in Jordan to hop on a flight out of the Middle East Thursday morning.
Before the flight, Carroll said it was frightening, but their faith was greater than their fear.
“We’re just having to trust that we’re making the right decision, and this is our only option to get home, so we [were] just trusting in God,” he said.
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The group returned to the U.S. on Thursday night, landing at JFK in New York.
Melanie Carroll, the pastor’s wife, texted, “We are so thankful!!!!! It’s surreal!!”
Melanie and Vic Carroll while visiting The Holy Land. (Kailey Schuyler)
The unexpected extension of the trip caused the price tag to increase significantly. Melanie created a GoFundMe, writing, “The path to get us home between lodging, flights and transfers will be upwards of $2500 per person.”
The group was able to raise their goal of $100,000 in less than three days.
Melanie said the group is continuing to pray for everyone trying to get out of the Middle East.
Nearly 24,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. after fleeing the Middle East since Operation Epic Fury began last week, according to the State Department.
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