Children’s entertainer Daniel Coleman — known as 'Danny Go!' on YouTube — is pausing his tour plans after his 14-year-old son was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Continue reading…

The country music legend is on the mend after a fall on the ice left him with a sprained wrist and hand injury. He’s postponing tour dates while he recovers — but promises he’ll be back soon. Continue reading…

The hot streak continues. Even if you don’t know a thing about bluegrass, there is a very high probability that you at least know Billy Strings. The Michigan native has taken over the bluegrass scene with his hypnotic jam-band style, capturing the hearts of Grateful Dead fans, Phish fans, and beyond. Billy Strings is the face of the psychedelic bluegrass movement and the poster child for modern bluegrass players. But William Lee Apostol, A.K.A. Billy Strings, didn’t just magically turn into a master bluegrass player overnight. He dedicated himself to playing guitar and learning music at a young age, even studying bluegrass legends such as Doc Watson and emulating them. His parents helped introduce him to a variety of music, which ultimately shaped him into the impressive artist he is today. All of his hard work honing his flat-picking craft has paid off: Billy Strings now has multiple Grammy Awards, most recently winning Best Bluegrass Album for his 2024 album, Highway Prayer. This is Strings’ second consecutive win for Best Bluegrass Album, and it appears that The Recording Academy is entirely giving Strings the well-deserved flowers, and many other industry professionals are inviting him to the table. “Thank you to all the Grammys folks for naming ‘Highway Prayers’ best bluegrass album!!! And congratulations to all the nominees, it’s an honor to be recognized along with such fine musicians.” View this post on Instagram Strings’ mainstream success is not only a massive win for the bluegrass community but country music as a whole. And while most would be reveling in that win for a few days, Billy Strings is keeping the momentum going and his nose to the grindstone, sharing that he’s been in the studio working like a madman. With Strings’ intense tour schedule, there isn’t much downtime to get into the studio, so you have to take advantage of it when you can. Kicking off 2026, Strings teased that he was in the recording booth, sharing the following image: View this post on Instagram Fans were amped to see that Strings was in the studio, and some sleuths were trying very hard to zoom in on the lyric sheet for some insight on what the “Dust In A Baggie” singer is working on. With little time having passed since that teaser image, Strings is teasing what he’s been working on even more, leaving fans ecstatic after sharing he’s recorded one of his best LPs yet. Today, February 3, Strings took to this Instagram story and posted a black screen with text that read: “Just made my best album yet. Fkn stoked.”  LET’S GO. Minutes after sharing that story, Strings posted a collection of behind-the-scenes images from the studio to his feed, including pictures of his son behind the mixing board and his dog serving as his loyal studio supervisor. I hope we get this “best album yet” sooner rather than later. Don’t make us wait too long, Billy. We are ready. View this post on Instagram The post “Stoked”: Fresh Off Grammy Win, Billy Strings Says He Just Made His Best Album Yet first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

The Red Clay Strays were telling us a Bible story this whole time. The southern rock and country band, which rocketed into the mainstream around 2023, describe themselves as not as a Christian band, but a band full of Christians. Their faith and outspokenness about the Lord is often intertwined with their music, and really shined through in their sophomore album Made By These Moments. Which makes sense… if you are band full of Christians and you put together an album that’s about the highs and lows of life, God is going to be working within those moments. I was fortunate enough to see the talented band from Mobile, Alabama at their first ever headlining concert at Red Rocks not too long ago, and there were many times throughout their performance that the stone stair seating at the iconic venue briefly transformed into church pews. They were really taking the crowd to church that night, and they take pride in doing so every time they get up on stage. And if you ever take a closer listen to their music, you’d be surprised at how often their lyrics take inspiration from the Bible. Take their 2024 song “Disaster,” for example. Upon first glance or listen, you might just digest it as a song about imperfection. But when you really sit with the lyrics for a moment, like one Redditor did, there’s undoubtedly ties to the Biblical stories of David and his son Solomon, both Kings of Israel, and the overarching message of Jesus Christ. Right off the bat, the song starts with “I’m a giant slayer, I’m a music player.” That’s both alluding to the famed story of David killing Goliath (1 Samuel 17:49) and the fact that David was known for playing music in service of his tormented predecessor, King Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-23). Then, not too long after slaying the giant, David became the next King of Israel. And as he grew more powerful, sin became more tempting and David committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba. God eventually sent a prophet named Nathan to  rebuke David for his sins. The Red Clay Strays covered that portion of the story too: “I’m a young king walking, now the prophet’s talkin'” There’s even another line that speaks about killing a man, which lines up with David essentially murdering Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, so that no one would find out about the adultery he had committed and the pregnancy that it resulted in (2 Samuel 11). The song then moves on to tell the story from the perspective of Solomon, a son of David and Bathsheba. In case you aren’t familiar with Old Testament storytelling, Solomon asked for, and in turn was blessed by the Lord with, great wisdom (1 Kings 4:29-34). So it makes sense that the Red Clay Strays kicked off the second verse of “Disaster” with: “I’m the wisest counsel.” And though he was smart, he followed in his father’s footsteps by letting sin creep in and take over his life. The lyrics of the song say that Solomon has “wives and treasures, and foreign gods for pleasure.” Once again, that lines up with the teachings of a book of the Bible (1 Kings to be exact). Solomon did, in fact, have vast treasure and multiple wives from foreign nations (1 Kings 10:14, 1 Kings 11:1-3), and those wives led him towards idolatry and away from God (1 Kings 11:4-8). Another line in “Disaster” touches on the death of Solomon splitting up the united Kingdom of Israel, which is just another great example of the attention to detail by the Red Clay Strays. Some of the final lines of the song give the perfect conclusion to the song that mainly explores the triumphs and shortcomings of David and Solomon. As I stated before, the message of “Disaster” may have honed in on those two biblical figures more than anything else, but it ultimately tells the story of Jesus Christ, and how he eventually came to Earth to pay the price for our sins on the cross: “So, what do you have to say about life? The one we laid down to turn dark to light? The world let Him down, so He came around when disaster struck again” All that to say that the Red Clay Strays basically snuck a bible lesson into one of their songs, and some people didn’t even know it. And I have to say I’m a bit embarrassed that I left this one out of my “5 Red Clay Strays Songs That You Could Hear In Church” list. “Disaster” certainly belongs with all of those, even though it’s religious message might be masked a bit more than the others. But it’s a beautiful song, and one you probably won’t ever look at the same again if you call yourself a fan of the Red Clay Strays: “Disaster” by The Red Clay Strays The post Giant Slayer, Fallen King: Unpacking The Biblical Truths In The Red Clay Strays’ “Disaster” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.