Tyler Hubbard says Florida Georgia Line's reunion continues to gain momentum after another major step behind the scenes. Continue reading…

That’s a stacked class. The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame announced their 2026 class of nominees, with 12 songwriters across two categories being selected for consideration. In the Songwriter/Artists category, the nominees are Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Phil Vassar. While Swift has shifted towards pop after getting her start in country music back in 2006, she’s won three Grammy awards for her songwriting, including awards for Best Country Song for “White Horse” in 2010 and “Mean” in 2012, as well as Best Song Written for Visual Media with “Safe & Sound” from The Hunger Games. She also recently became the youngest woman ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Miranda Lambert, meanwhile, is currently dominating the charts with her hit song “Choosin’ Texas,” written by Miranda along with Ella Langley. The song just spent its 13th week at #1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, while also having written or co-written several of her own hits including “Kerosene,” “Gunpowder & Lead,” “Over You,” and “Vice.” There’s not much to say about Chris Stapleton’s masterful songwriting: Before even releasing his debut album in 2015, Stapleton had already racked up hits for other artists like “Drink A Beer” by Luke Bryan, Josh Turner’s “Your Man,” and Kenny Chesney’s “Never Wanted Nothing More.” And since then, he’s gone on to win three Grammys for Best Country Song for “White Horse,” “Broken Halos” and “Cold” while dominating at both the ACM Awards and the CMA Awards for the last decade. Rounding out the category is Phil Vassar, who’s not only had hits with his own songs like “Just Another Day In Paradise” and “In A Real Love” but also with songs written for other artists, like Jo Dee Messina’s “Bye, Bye” and “I’m Alright,” Collin Raye’s “Little Red Rodeo,” and Tim McGraw’s “My Next Thirty Years.” Meanwhile, there were 8 nominees in the Songwriter only category, including Jim Beavers, Shawn Camp, Rodney Clawson, Dallas Davidson, Marv Green, Lee Thomas Miller, Neil Thrasher and Chris Tompkins. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the biggest hits written by each of the Songwriter nominees: Jim Beavers – “Red Solo Cup” by Toby Keith, “Watching Airplanes” by Gary Allan, “Drink A Beer” by Luke Bryan (written with Chris Stapleton) Shawn Camp – “River of Love” by George Strait, “Two Piña Coladas” by Garth Brooks, “How Long Gone” by Brooks & Dunn Rodney Clawson – “American Kids” by Kenny Chesney, “I Saw God Today” by George Strait, “Drunk On You” by Luke Bryan, “Crazy Town” & “Amarillo Sky” by Jason Aldean Dallas Davidson – “Boys ‘Round Here” by Blake Shelton, “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” by Luke Bryan, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” by Justin Moore Marv Green – “Amazed” by Lonestar, “Consider Me Gone” by Reba, “It Just Comes Natural” by George Strait Lee Thomas Miller – “You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins, “In Color” by Jamey Johnson, “The Impossible” by Joe Nichols Neil Thrasher – “Try That In A Small Town” by Jason Aldean, “How Country Feels” by Randy Houser, “There Goes My Life” by Kenny Chesney Chris Tompkins – “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, “Drunk On A Plane” by Dierks Bentley, “Lies Lies Lies” by Morgan Wallen All of the nominees had their first hit at least 20 years ago, as required by the rules for nomination. A total of two Songwriters will be inducted, alongside one Songwriter/Artist, will be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame later this year. Gonna be hard to pick just three of these names.The post Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton Among Nominees For Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

"You can see that she's hurting," Brianna Chickenfry says of Bunnie Xo. Continue reading…

Riley Green and Theo Von decided to break down one of the country star’s biggest hits: “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.” As you might imagine, it was quite entertaining. The country music star has plenty of No. 1 hits to his name, but the one that really helped put him on the map is a song that explores the perfect world where grandpas – and grandparents in general – never passed away. It’s an emotional song, and a heart-string-tugging tune that many can relate to. But have you ever stopped to think about what would actually happen if grandpas truly didn’t ever die? Theo Von has, and he decided to do a deep dive into it when Green joined him on his This Past Weekend with Theo Von podcast. In classic Theo fashion, he delivered a comical line in a completely deadpan way: “What if Grandpas never did die? You ever think about that? There would be some side effects of it.” Riley Green couldn’t help but smile after that question. The country singer admitted that their would be some side effects, or drawbacks, to that, as well as to many of the other things he mentions in the hit song: “Everything in that song, there are side effects to. If every road was named Copperhead, it’d be really hard to get anywhere. It’d be confusing. If coolers never ran out of beer, people would have alcohol poisoning. If high school home teams never lost, everybody would be .500 at the end of the season. There are problems, if you want to pick apart the songs that I write, we can.” Theo Von was then quick to point out that he wasn’t trying to pick apart anything, and that “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” was one of his favorite songs. But he couldn’t help but notice that there’d be some issues that would arise: “It’s one of my favorite song. I do think, if they never died, first of all, inheritance would never start. That’d piss some people off.” Green countered by saying there would be some positives, like grandparents having a longer time to pass down things like work ethic. And that wasn’t the only time that “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” came up in conversation. Later in the interview, Green said that he’s always caught off guard when fans starting fighting each other at his concerts… mainly because of the songs they choose to throw hands during: “It’s always girls. Girl fights are always way more serious than guy fights. And I’m always surprised too at the song they get in a fight during. There’s been a couple videos I’ve seen of people getting in a fight during ‘I Wish Grandpas Never Died.’ Or I’ve got a song called ‘Jesus Saves.’ I’m like… how do you emotionally go to (trading) blows?” How could you fight another person when “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” or “Jesus Saves” comes on? Theo Von had a few ideas, and you can hear what else he had to say in the latest episode of his podcast. This Past Weekend with Theo Von – Riley Green Oh, and if you want to get out there and hear “I Wish Grandpas Never died” performed live, make sure to check out Riley Green’s tour schedule for the next couple of months. Riley Green Tour Dates July 16th, 2026 – Green Bay, WI – Resch Center#~• July 23rd, 2026 – Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre#~• August 6th, 2026 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater#/• August 7th, 2026 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center#/• August 8th, 2026 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live#/• August 13th, 2026 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion#/• August 14th, 2026 – Hartford, CT – The XFINITY Theatre#/• August 15th, 2026 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheatre#/• August 21st, 2026 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford#$*^ August 22nd, 2026 – Grand Forks, ND – Ralph Engelstad Arena#$*^ #Justin Moore ~Drake White $Mackenzie Carpenter •Hannah McFarland *Adam Hood /Zach John King ^Not A Live Nation ShowThe post Riley Green Says He Can’t Believe That Fans Will Fist Fight During An Emotional Song Like “I Wish Grandpas Never Died” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.