So much music, so little time. As we’ve seen so many times the past few years, 2026 has been filled to the brim with stellar album after stellar album from week to week. Despite the controversy as of late, Zach Bryan officially kicked things off on January 9th with the release of his stellar sixth studio album, With Heaven On Top. Later that month, we also saw brilliant debuts from the likes of Kashus Culpepper on Act I and the severely underrated duo Low Gap on Geneva. The rest of the winter months would be highlighted by the likes of Megan Moroney snagging her first all-genre #1 with her junior record, Cloud 9, Clay Street Unit proving why they’re one of the most underrated bands on Sin & Squalor, Luke Combs continuing his hot streak with the release of his “comeback” album, The Way I Am, and Flatland Cavalry and Drayton Farley ending March on a high note with brilliant albums of their own on both Work of Heart and A Heavy Duty Heart. Of course, you can’t not mention the convoluted rollout of Sturgill Simpson’s latest outing as Johnny Blue Skies on Mutiny After Midnight, Ella Langley’s record-shattering release of Dandelion, Ernest setting sail on Deep Blue and Kacey Musgraves’ feature-filled outing on Middle of Nowhere. Simply put, it’s been a massive year already for country music, both commercially and critically, and it’s honestly just getting more jam-packed from here. In particular, June is looking to be one of the busiest months from an album-release perspective in recent memory. On June 12th alone, we have Koe Wetzel dropping his recently-announced album, The Night Champion, Midland returning to their roots on their new album, Stages and Keith Urban making the bold move to release a yacht rock cover album. Throw in the likes of Colby Acuff planning to release his seventh album since 2020 on HANDMADE HORSEPOWER, reigning CMA Group of the Year winners, The Red Clay Strays releasing their junior album, Cody Johnson closing the month on his long-awaited return, Banks of the Trinity, you have a month for the ages. And that’s not even accounting for Sierra Ferrell’s live album, John R. Miller’s physical release (digital coming in July), Bella White, Lee Brice, Caleb Caudle, Breakfield, The War & Treaty, Jason Eady, Jo Dee Messina, Old Crow Medicine Show, Rodney Crowell, and others who will also be releasing new projects. All that being said, here’s a quick rundown of the most notable albums dropping in this jam-packed month of June HANDMADE HORSEPOWER – Colby Acuff (June 2nd) Simply put, Colby Acuff is one of the most underrated and overlooked songwriters of this current generation. Since his debut in 2020 with Life of a Rolling Stone, the “If I Were the Devil” singer has proceeded to drop an album each and every year since then. Despite the incredibly high volume of musical output, much like his contemporaries, Zach Bryan and Charley Crockett, it seems as if the Idaho native has simply gotten better with every release. Though Acuff has made a career on introspective songwriting with a wholly Americana sound, HANDMADE HORSEPOWER marks a much more grungy, southern rock-inspired entry, judging by the pre-released tracks, “LIPSTICK ON A PIG” and “WHITE FLAG.” Like any album from the “Dying Breed” singer, it’s shaping up to be another stellar outing and a shoo-in for many Album of the Year shortlists. Grateful – The Red Clay Strays (June 5th) There’s no doubt that The Red Clay Strays have been red-hot over the last year. Riding the highs of their sophomore album, Made by These Moments, in 2024, the Alabama group broke out into the mainstream back in November. Not only did they deliver a killer performance of “People Hatin’” at the 59th annual CMA Awards, more importantly, they also dethroned Old Dominion as Vocal Group of the Year en route to their first-ever CMA win. After dropping some more stellar tracks such as “If I Didn’t Know You” and their gospel-inspired “Demons In Your Choir,” the Strays finally gave an official release date for their junior album, Grateful. There’s no denying that Grateful is shaping up to be the most anticipated album of the summer in country music. And if the quality of the first three singles released off the project is any indication of Revival itself, I think it’s pretty safe to say it will end up being on many “Albums of the Year” lists once it’s finally released on June 5th. The Night Champion – Koe Wetzel (June 12th) Just announced on Tuesday, Koe Wetzel is officially returning with his sixth studio album, The Night Champion. Another one of the most highly-anticipated albums of the year, the “Good Die Young” singer would tell us here at Whiskey Riff that it serves as an ode to his grandfather, a reflection on his rapidly-changing life and ultimately one of his most personal albums to date. “It was kind of an ode to him and everything that he taught me. I switched it from nite to night, but it kind of goes back on everything that I’ve been through… making music and the party era and the rough, rowdy life that I’ve lived so far. Then kind of coming out on the back end of it now to where I’m a father.” Despite focusing on his maturity, Wetzel promises that The Night Champion will still carry over the rowdy nature from his past hits in sections, meaning there will be a little something for everyone. Stages – Midland (June 12th) Like Wetzel’s The Night Champion, Midland’s Stages was also just officially announced this week. Though they’ve caught some flak for the admittedly strange backgrounds of two-thirds of their members, as well as their dedication to keeping an incredibly flashy, 70s aesthetic seemingly constantly, I’d go as far as to say that Midland has remained the best country band in the mainstream over the past decade. As for what to expect from Stages, Mark Wystrach, Midland’s frontman, would add that the record, at its core, is about bringing together their Texas and California roots, noting that the marriage between the two is what really matters to them. “And the more you dig into country’s roots, the more there is to work with. We’ve always had real respect for the original Texas and California country, so this album lets us pull all that through the songs we’ve written and found to really focus on what matters to us.” So far, the pre-released tracks from the album do just that, with tracks like “Shooting Memories With Tequila” and “Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey” capturing that glitzy, ’70s style sound Midland has made a name for themselves with over the past decade. Flow State – Keith Urban (June 12th) Out of all the storylines emerging from the first quarter of the year in country music, Keith Urban’s proposed journey into yacht rock was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating. After teasing an album full of covers from the genre back in March, Urban confirmed the project at the end of April, dropping one original track, “We Go Back,” featuring yacht rock legend Michael McDonald and a cover of Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze.” As for the tracklist, the 58-year-old singer/songwriter is set to deliver a plethora of classics in the genre, ranging from Player’s “Baby Come Back” and Grover Washington and Bill Withers’ “Just the Two Of Us” to Robbie Dupree’s “Steal Away” and Stephen Bishop’s “On and On.” Even more excitingly, Urban is calling on fellow guitar legend, John Mayer, for a cover of Bread’s “Guitar Man” as well as Little Big Town for a cover of Walter Egan’s “Magnet and Steel.” I think it’s pretty safe to say Urban’s track record has been a little questionable (to say the least) over the past decade or so. With that being said, I was able to listen to Urban play the entire album from front to back live a few weeks back. While I won’t spoil anything, I think some will be in for a surprise; he does the tracks justice. Banks of the Trinity – Cody Johnson (June 26th) An album three years in the making, there’s no doubt that Banks of the Trinity is one of the most anticipated country releases of 2026. It’s pretty clear that Johnson recognizes this, not only slating a hefty 16 songs for the album but also confirming that long-awaited collaborations with both Luke Combs and Brothers Osborne will also be featured. Additionally, Johnson would explain that Banks of the Trinity is one of his most personal albums to date, noting it’s a reflection of his roots back home in Sebastopol, Texas. “When I heard the song “Banks Of The Trinity” for the first time, it was like a portrait flashed in my head of memories I thought I’d forgotten. It took me straight back home to Sebastopol, Texas, where I grew up on the river… This record is my way of going back to those dirt roads. I can’t wait for you to come with me on that journey back.” So far, CoJo has released two incredibly traditional tracks, “Hello Lonesome” and “I Want You.” And if they’re any indication of how the album ends up shaping out, it’ll be his best record in years. Pink Pocket Pistol – Willow Avalon (June 26th) In case you’re somehow not familiar with Avalon, she has firmly placed herself atop the ranks of today’s new generation of female country acts, along with the likes of Maggie Antone, Kaitlin Butts, Sierra Ferrell, Kat Hasty and many more. Sounding somewhere between Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn with a modern edge, the “Homewrecker” singer released her debut album, Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell, back in January to incredibly high praise, recently being named as one of our top country albums of 2025 here at Whiskey Riff, coming in at #31. After teasing the potential of two records in 2026 and dropping some stellar, traditional tracks earlier in the year, “Easy On The Eyes” and “Cardinal Sin” with the legendary Jason Isbell, Avalon officially confirmed her sophomore album, Pink Pocket Pistol, at the beginning of April. As for what to expect from the album, Avalon would confirm it’ll still have a strong ’60s vibe that she’s made a name for herself with over the last two years. “Pink Pocket Pistol is a mix of the lyricism and sassy storylines I’ve continuously written, with more darkness, mystery and a ‘60s country feel. I went in with an idea in my head, and we walked out a week later with it fully executed. Every single person in the room was on the exact same page. It felt wonderful hearing the record out of speakers—after really, intensive, hard work—exactly what I heard in my head.” The post Cody Johnson & Koe Wetzel Lead a Massive Month of June Country Album Releases first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

One of the great country performances of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. Eric Church performed The Star-Spangled Banner as a duet with R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan at Super Bowl LV on February 7, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. It was during the COVID pandemic, and Eric has said before that the 2021 Capitol riot also prompted him to want to do it. Singing the Anthem is always a risk, especially at an event as massive as the Super Bowl, because if you screw it up you’ll likely never live it down, and considering this was a duet, it only heightened the stakes to get it just right as Church and Sullivan blended two different genres in the country’s most iconic song. That’s hard enough to do as it is, let alone with the Anthem, and they ended up delivering a soulful and really beautiful rendition, and while really no country artist can compare to Chris Stapleton’s version, Eric did a great job during what was a very challenging time for the country. And he explained on the Hometown Titans podcast with Taylor Zarzour that he really wanted to stress a message of unity while performing with Sullivan, and they knew it was a massive opportunity to bring the country together considering the Super Bowl is the biggest event of the year: “That was a weird time. But it was also a good time, at least for doing that, because the country didn’t… the Super Bowl was still the thing the country was gonna watch when we did not know what was happening anywhere else. And I knew that. The way we crafted the performance, and the way we tried to do it was make it a unifying thing of, I don’t know where we’re gonna go, but we’re gonna go there together, and it’s gonna be okay.” He also says he thinks Nashville will get the chance to host a Super Bowl in the not-too-distant future, and I completely agree… maybe we’ll finally get another country halftime show if and when that time comes, too: “I feel very comfortable that… and a lot of it comes down to, if you look at what makes great Super Bowls and great Super Bowl cities, Nashville checks every box. What they’ve been waiting on is enough of the growth that you had the hotels and you had the infrastructure to support it, right? Getting the Super Bowl, or Final Four, or college football playoff, that’s a big, big thing for a city. And Nashville has proven over the last few years with the growth, and how they handled just a weekend. I mean, it’s lit when the Predators are playing… they’ve shown that there’s a big appetite for it, and they’ve shown there’s infrastructure for it.” It’s been speculated that 2030 is the year for Music City, but we’ll have to wait and see on an official announcement because tons of cities bid on getting to host the Super Bowl every year and Nashville has never done it before. I feel like Eric’s halftime often gets glossed over when we talk about great country performances that have occurred in relation to the Super Bowl, mostly because Stapleton delivered such an iconic performance just a couple years after Eric in 2023, but Eric’s duet with Jazmine has aged so well and they really met the moment in a powerful way. Check it out: The full podcast is available below. The post Eric Church Wanted His Super Bowl National Anthem Performance With Jazmine Sullivan To Be A Unifying Moment For The Country first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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The biggest risk of his career has certainly paid off. Eric Church is a country superstar, who has had multiple radio hits, won major awards and put out hit albums, but he comes from humble beginnings. He grew up in small town Granite Falls, North Carolina, where his dad worked in the furniture business (like many did in that area), and Eric credits his mom, Rita for his singing talents. Eric’s career really started, though, when he was in college at Appalachian State University, where he formed a band called The Mountain Boys with his late brother, Brandon, as well as his roommate and another guitarist. They played local gigs around western North Carolina, and Eric was mostly focused on music, rather than getting his marketing degree. He graduated because he promised his dad he would, but left for Nashville soon after and the rest, as they say… is history. And making the movie to Music City was a huge risk, not only because he didn’t know a soul there or anything about the town, but also because he had his entirely life set up back home. Eric explained on the Hometown Titans podcast with Taylor Zarzour that just making that move to even try to make his dreams a reality was the biggest risk he’s ever taken in his career, explaining that he left everything behind, including a fiancée, to become who he is today. Eric said it’s one of many he’s taken along the way, though Eric admits he didn’t even know where Music Row was, and considering this all took place in the early-to-mid 2000s, he had to use a map just to figure it out: “I’ve taken a lot of them… it’s a pretty big risk just to do this. If I look at my overall life, that’s a pretty big risk just to do it. Because nobody from where I was from had ever done anything like that, in anything, right? I remember, the advice I got before I came to town, I mean, I did finally graduate with a marketing degree and had a bunch of job offers and all this stuff. And I had a fiancée, so everything was kind of laid out, this path over here, door #2. And I chose door #1. So I think if I look back at my life, that’s a pretty big risk. There’s been a ton along the way. We try to take risks as much as we can, and put ourselves in peril as much as we can. But that’s just my nature, but if I look back on it, the actual decision just to come to Nashville… I didn’t know a soul. I knew not one person. Not one. [That] was the biggest thing. I didn’t know where Music Row was. This was back before you could pull it up on your phone… I had to find it on a damn map.” If that story sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because you’ve heard it in Eric’s song “What I Almost Was,” which was included on his 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me. Eric co-wrote it with Casey Beathard and Michael P. Heeney, and it pretty much tells you exactly how everything went down when he left for Music City. It’s always been my favorite verse where he talks about that fiancée and her dad, realizing that he came “awful close” to having a nice corner office and country club membership, though he’d be answering to “no one, but her and him”: “Yeah, I moved on back home And came awful close to being some son-in-law to some CEO Could’ve been a corner office, country club, suit-and-tie man Answerin’ to no one, but her and him I ran out on his money, ran out on her love At four in the mornin’ I loaded my truck I left my home town in a big cloud of dust I just had to follow my gut And I thank God I ain’t what I almost was” It’s a great song, Sinners Like Me is one of the greatest debut albums of all-time in my humble opinion, and while I suspected a lot of what he said in the song was true simply from putting together pieces of what he’s said about that whole journey over the years, it’s so interesting to hear him talk about that time and how he feels like it was a massive risk, especially considering everything he was leaving behind. I’ve never really heard him talk about the fact that he was actually engaged and planning to live in his hometown and work forever, but it gives the song a whole new meaning to know that it’s all completely true. Turn it up… “What I Almost Was” The full podcast is available here: The post Eric Church Says The Biggest Risk He’s Ever Taken In His Career Was Making The Move To Nashville first appeared on Whiskey Riff.