Never planned on returning in 2026. It’s safe to say the first version of Morgan Wallen‘s Sand In My Boots Festival was a massive success. The festival, which took place in Gulf Shores, Alabama back in May as a one year takeover of Hangout Fest, sold out almost instantly when it went on sale with a lineup featuring Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn and HARDY, as well as a wide range of artists from different genres including Riley Green, Wiz Khalifa, T-Pain, Chase Rice, 49 Winchester, and Three 6 Mafia. Afterwards, the event drew high praise from the city. Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft even made it clear that he expected future versions of Hangout Fest to match the standard set by Sand In My Boots Festival going foward: “My analogy has been, my own personal thoughts, in the past, we had young kids with their daddy’s credit card here and not a whole lot for them to worry about. They were on a free leash. So this year we had an older group that had their own credit card. And you could certainly see that they were more disciplined. There were less problems… Really it was a much better behaving crowd.” With the success of the festival and the praise from city officials, it seemed like all parties involved would want to run it back in 2026. And despite Morgan saying that they would try to do it again sometime, there was never any confirmation from the festival that they intended to return in 2026. And this week, it was essentially confirmed that Sand In My Boots Festival wouldn’t be returning to Gulf Shores in 2026, after the city announced on Monday that Hangout Festival is cancelled altogether next year. A couple months ago, the Gulf Shores city council had reviewed a proposal on whether or not to allow Hangout Festival to return in 2026, and the city’s director of economic development and public affairs made it clear that if it returned, they expected either Sand In My Boots festival to return, or a replacement that would draw the same type of crowd – or they may not grant them a permit to return in the future: “Festival agrees the 2025 SIMB festival will serve as a benchmark for the type of event they shall offer in order to attract a similar audience to provide a positive reputational and economic impact for the community.” The city ultimately approved a one year extension, which the mayor said would serve as a test for the future: “Those conditions are going to be along the lines of, create the same group that we had this year… So we’re going to have to get comfortable that they’re going to be able to recreate that group of people we had on the beach, because it was dramatically different… We have made it really clear. The only one we’re worried about right now is ’26. Can they do what they’re supposed to do, in ’26. The motivating factor there, if you can do it right, we can go forward. If you don’t, it’s over.” But in announcing the cancellation, the mayor placed the blame on festival organizers, saying they waited too long to book the caliber of acts they needed: “We are already approving the event in 2027. We delayed too long, or they did, in their application to be able to get the kind of acts that we required them to have to be successful in 2026. We will refuse to let them go back to the acts that we’ve had before and so they couldn’t do it… They canceled the 2026 event, but they’ve got time now to pursue the type of talent we want on our beaches to invite the right audience that we want on our beaches, that we proved last time, the last event, that could happen. We’re determined if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen that way again.” And after Hangout Fest 2026 was canceled, Sand In My Boots Festival made clear that there was never any plan for them to return next year – though they do plan on running it back at some point in the future. In a statement posted to their Instagram, the festival said the cancelation of Hangout Fest had “nothing to do” with them: So the good news for fans who were hoping that Sand In My Boots would be returning in the future is that it sounds like that’s the plan. It just won’t be in 2026.The post Morgan Wallen’s ‘Sand In My Boots Festival’ Says They Plan To Return In The Future – Just Not In 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

One of Merle Haggard’s classics. In 1973, Merle released “If We Make It Through December” as the lead single for his Christmas album Merle Haggard’s Christmas Present, but it later became the the title track to a non-Christmas album four months later, as well. A solo write by Merle, the song became one of the signature songs of his career, and peaked at#1 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart. But it wasn’t exactly inspired by Merle’s own personal life, and rather came from a conversation he had with his guitar player, Roy Nichols. Nichols had been through multiple divorces, and they had a habit of coming at the end of the year. When Merle asked him how he was doing with this latest relationship, Nichols responded: “If we just make it through December…” Merle being the songwriter that he is, that line immediately jumped out at him, and he used the phrase as the inspiration to what would become one of his most beloved songs, that many of us think of as a Christmas song, but technically really could apply to any time of the year. The actual inspiration was more about a man hoping his relationship could survive through the end of the year, and if it did, it might have a chance for more long term success. He tells the story of a man who got laid off at the factory and is struggling through what is supposed to be one of the happiest times of year, and he explains the sadness he feels knowing that his little girl won’t have the Christmas he wants to give her this year: “Got laid off down at the factoryAnd their timing’s not the greatest in the worldHeaven knows I’ve been working hardI wanted Christmas to be right for daddy’s girlI don’t mean to hate DecemberIt’s meant to be the happy time of yearBut my little girl don’t understandWhy daddy can’t afford no Christmas here…” Merle’s father died when he was only nine years old, and he grew up in poverty, watching his mom struggle, and of course, he was quite a troublemaker in his teenaged years, so I’m sure the song had a lot of personal meaning for him, as well. “If We Make It Through December” has been covered by countless artists over the years, including ” Alan Jackson, Marty Robbins, Faron Young, and more recently, Cody Johnson and even the Pistol Annies. But there’s just somethin’ about the way Merle delivers it that cannot be replicated or compared to… he has some of the most classically country vocals of all-time, and he delivers this song with such emotion and conviction that I believe you really only can as the person who wrote it. We all know he was a one-in-a-million voice. Maybe even lesser odds than that… I think part of the reason so many people still love this song is because of how real and relatable it is… there are so many great things about the holiday season, but it can be a real struggle financially and emotionally too, and I think many of us wind up hoping we can just “make it through December” a lot of the time, too. “If We Make It Through December” This live performance is so cool too: The post The True Story Behind Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December” Isn’t Exactly What You Might Think… first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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It’s that time of year again… Another great year of country music is all but in the books, and now it’s time to look back, reflect, and take stock of everything we’ve been gifted in 2025. Country music is in a GREAT place compared to where it was even just a handful of years ago, so much so that it honestly can make these highly subjective, year-end lists rather unenjoyable to put together. Since first we started Whiskey Riff back in 2014, we’ve compiled an annual “Albums of the Year” list featuring our Top 40 albums, and every year it seems like it gets harder and harder to do. As far as the process goes, it’s pretty simple… I tell all of the writers here, as well as a couple behind-the-scenes folks (about 8 of us), to send me their top albums of the year and then we analyze those lists to make a master short list, ranked by which albums appear the most among us, and where they fall on the list. A fairly democratic process for the most part. This year, that master list featured a whopping 85+ albums that went into consideration, and that’s far from every country album that was released this year… very far from it. You see why this isn’t that much fun anymore? How do take a list of nearly 90 good country albums and whittle that down to 40? It’s extremely difficult to do. But in the modern digital age… we love simple rankings and lists, easily digestible graphics to be consumed on social media in a matter of seconds… so here we go. Country music in 2025 was a continuation of what we saw in 2024… better quality from the mainstream, artists like Zach Top, Parker McCollum, Chase Rice, Jake Owen, Hailey Whitters. And then we also saw more success emerging out of the independent/non-mainstream scene. Bands like Treaty Oak Revival had a breakout year, Red Clay Strays have finally unseated Old Dominion from the awards shows, Charley Crockett, Tyler Childers and Turnpike Troubadours have really become household names at this point. All in all, I think it’s great to see where the genre is headed, but perhaps more importantly, the streaming era has proven that a LOT can be accomplished these days without any love from country radio or any support from a major label in Nashville. You can become a legitimate country music superstar these days, selling BIG arenas, streaming among the giants, and be completely independent from the entire country music scene. It’s a new era, and a great development for country music as a whole, but…. back to the list. I know that many of your favorite records will be featured on this list, but as I say every single year… I truly hope you find something new here as well. I really want these year-end lists to be about reflection, appreciation, and discovery, and not validation of your own music taste. Of course, I’m not that naive. I know as soon as I hit publish, all of the “what about…” or “you forgot…” comments will come raining in, and have at it… I don’t read the comments anyways. But before we get to the list, let’s set some quick ground rules… with the main one largely being that we’re only considering full length studio albums. So that means no EPs (even the long ones), no live albums or compilation albums, and no deluxe editions either, even though some deluxe albums are adding another 8-10 songs these days. Posthumous records count so long as there was original, never-heard-before material. And no… no AI music will even remotely be considered for anything other than our “Worst Country Songs of the Year” list. So without further ado, let’s get to it… Honorable Mentions Like I said earlier, every year when we start gathering up our sort list of albums top consider for album of the year, it ends being a LONG list. It is nearly impossible to narrow them down to even just 40 albums and I strongly considered doing the Top 50 this year. A number of factors can explain why a particular album didn’t make the cut… maybe we just didn’t get enough listens, maybe it snuck under the radar or came out in a jam-packed window and took a backseat to other albums. I’ll admit that there were some in here that I personally just wasn’t that familiar with. I also tried to stay away from albums that didn’t quite feel like they were made in the spirit of country music. For example, while a totally bad*** project, Brent Cobb and the Fixin’s went explicitly rock and roll this year. It was a departure from the usual sound and I think that’s a different approach than some of the Texas country rock acts who’ve made a career under the country music umbrella. Nevertheless, it’s a relatively sizeable group effort here, so maybe a particular album just didn’t quite resonate with all of us here at Whiskey Riff HQ. It doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Either way, here’s a handful of great albums that didn’t make the cut this year, but you should still definitely check out. Honorable Mentions: Kassi Ashton – Made From the Dirt: The Blooms Cole Chaney – In the Shadow of the Mountain The Wilder Blue – Still in the Runnin’ Dylan Gossett – Westward Kolby Cooper – Love You, Goodnight Chancey Williams – Miles On Me Ashland Craft – Dive Bar Beauty Queen Kolton Moore & the Clever Few – A Place That I Call Home Lance Roark – Bad Reputation Philip Bowen – Appalachia Forever William Beckmann – Whiskey Lies & Alibis Lauren Watkins – In A Perfect World Sam Barber – Music for the Soul Joshua Ray Walker – Stuff Jason Boland & the Stragglers – The Last Kings of Babylon Jonathan & Abigail Peyton – How We’ve Come So Far Ruston Kelly – Pale, Through the Window Low Water Bridge Band – Honky Tonk Process Ken Pomeroy – Cruel Joke Myron Elkins – Nostalgia for Sale Nolan Taylor – Nolan Taylor John Baumann – Guy On A Rock And now… your top albums of 2025… Whiskey Riff’s Top 40 Country Albums of 2025 40. Tanner Usrey – These Days 39. JD Clayton – Blue Sky Sundays 38. Jon Pardi – Honkytonk Hollywood 37. Chase Rice – Eldora 36. Joshua Slone – Thinking Too Much 35. Morgan Wallen – I’m the Problem 34. Leon Majcen – Making a Livin’ (Not a Killin’)   33. Marcus King – Darling Blue 32. Joe Stamm Band – Little Crosses 31. Willow Avalon – Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell 30. Sunny Sweeney – Rhinestone Requiem 29. Nicholas Jamerson – The Narrow Way 28. Kelsey Waldon – Every Ghost 27. Muscadine Bloodline – …And What Was Left Behind 26. Parker McCollum – Parker McCollum 25. Lukas Nelson – American Romance 24. Cody Jinks – In My Blood 23. Jesse Daniel – Son of the San Lorenzo 22. Tennessee Jet – Ranchero 21. Sam Stoane – Tales of the Dark West 20. Luke Bell – The King Is Back 19. Evan Honer – Everything I Wanted 18. Waylon Jennings – Songbird 17. Ole 60 – Smokestack Town 16. Kat Hasty – The Time of Your Life 15. Carter Faith – Cherry Valley 14. Jake Worthington – When I Write the Song 13. Muscadine Bloodline – Longleaf Lo-Fi 12. Charley Crockett – Dollar A Day 11. Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter 10. Kip Moore – Solitary Tracks 9. Whiskey Myers – Whomp Whack Thunder 8. Hailey Whitters – Corn Queen 7. Jake Owen – Dreams to Dream 6. Colter Wall – Memories and Empties 5. Colby Acuff – Enjoy the Ride 4. Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine 3. Treaty Oak Revival – West Texas Degenerate 2. Zach Top – Ain’t In It for My Health 1. Turnpike Troubadours – The Price of Admission It’s only right that you have a playlist of the best country albums of this year… so we made one for you. After all, what good is a list of albums if you can’t listen to the music on the list, right? Cheers. Listen on Spotify Apple Music The post The 40 Best Country Albums Of 2025 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.