Y’all must’ve been hiding under a rock… Riley Green will join The Voice as a judge for Season 30 of the reality singing competition show, where he will be joined by fellow judges Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and Queen Latifah. He met Queen Latifah already (I think she’s a fan), and it seems like he’s finally met the other judges, though I don’t think he really knows any of them very well yet, so fans will really get to know each of them, and their dynamic as a whole, in realtime when the show actually airs sometime this fall. And while he’s never done anything like this for in terms of judging a reality TV singing competition, Riley did make his acting debut on the TV show Marshals a few months ago, and during an appearance on Country Countdown USA, he says he felt like he was already busy before Marshals, so now, it’s going to all be taken up a notch: “I feel that way. I’ve taken on a lot of new ventures. I wasn’t hurting for things to do already. But it’s been a lot of fun. I got a taste of it with Marshals. I thought I was busy before that.” He also revealed that there were two different appearances that led him to secure The Voice gig, which will definitely bring him a ton of exposure and introduce him to a much more mainstream crowd, even though he’s already a country star. And we now have a premiere date for the show, as The Voice shared on their social media accounts that the first episode will air on September 21st on NBC. They included all four judges spinning around in their chairs, a sight fans will see a lot more of this fall: View this post on Instagram And because this is really the first major national gig Riley has had in terms of TV shows (aside from a four-episode appearance on Marshals), there’s plenty of music fans who watch shows like this who don’t really know who he is or anything about his music. But because Riley is always a fan-favorite among ladies, whether they’re country music fans or not, and he certainly has fans of The Voice intrigued as many of them were thirsting over Riley in the announcement video above: “Who is Riley?? He is hooootttttttt.” “Wellllllll that Riley kid is a hottie.” “Wait – you caught my attention with Riley! Who is that!?!” “Wait who’s Riley, he cute.” “Will solely watch this for Riley Green.” “I’m going to watch because of Riley!!!! Drool” “Watching just to look at Riley.” “Riley will be the only reason to watch.” “I don’t know who Riley Green is but mercy—he’s cute.” “I’m watching just to see Riley Green!” “I’m just watching because of Riley!” “We all know every single woman is choosing Riley.” I think women all over the country are about to fall in love… welcome to country music, ladies. And if y’all haven’t seen his music video for “Worst Way” yet, you’re welcome… Riley’s new album That’s Just Me will be released right around the time The Voice airs onSeptember 18th “Think As You Drunk” The post “Who Is Riley? He Is Hooootttttttt” — Fans Of ‘The Voice’ Are Already Thirsting Over Riley Green In First Promo Video For Season 30 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

It was a complete surprise when Dolly Parton herself turned up for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at her Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop. Continue reading…

The company that owns Opry Entertainment Group — which is behind the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman and at least two major stars' bars — is considering selling its majority stake in the company. Continue reading…

Same story, different day. Fans were left frustrated this morning when they logged onto Ticketmaster to try to score tickets to the newly-added dates to Ella Langley‘s The Dandelion Tour after the site crashed, apparently due to overwhelming demand. The “Choosin’ Texas” singer announced earlier this week that she was adding 21 new dates to her tour, starting August 20th in Green Bay, Wisconsin and running through October 31st in Saint Paul, Minnesota, including a performance at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater: “So excited to announce the second leg of The Dandelion Tour… Sign up now at ellalangley.com for early access to tickets. Presale begins Thursday, June 25. General on sale Friday, June 26 at 10AM local.” View this post on Instagram Well the presale kicked off this morning, and social media was immediately flooded with complaints from fans after Ticketmaster appeared to crash as fans attempted to secure their spot in the queue: @TMFanSupport why can’t i join the queue on the web or the app when i have a presale code for Ella Langley?? pic.twitter.com/QwUh8rp9Kt — Elena Nicole (@ElenaNicole07) June 25, 2026 @Ticketmaster every Ella Langley fan hates your guts. — amaya marie (@AmayaMarie1314) June 25, 2026 https://x.com/islamwhtviwant/status/2070153203845406879 https://x.com/Ticket_Help2022/status/2070145419380740111 https://x.com/angelastaff54/status/2070144401901269024 It got so bad that Ticketmaster eventually had to pause the presale, while assuring fans that tickets were still available and they would remain in the queue: And Ella also posted an Instagram story addressing the mess: “We’re aware fans are having trouble accessing tickets due to technical issues with Ticketmaster. Thanks for your patience while they’re working to get things back up and running. We’ll share updates as soon as we have them.” What a mess. You’d think a company whose entire business is selling tickets would be able to actually handle…selling tickets, but it seems like every time there’s a popular tour going on sale we have the same issues. It’s just insane at this point. And there’s no way they didn’t know the demand would be high for this tour: Ella is one of the biggest artists – of any genre – in the world right now, thanks in no small part to her massive hit “Choosin’ Texas.” After riding the highs of 2024’s Riley Green collaboration, “you look like you love me” all the way into the end of 2025, the Alabama native dropped what can only be described as a cultural phenomenon at this point with “Choosin’ Texas.” As it stands today, “Choosin’ Texas” is the longest-running #1 hit by a female country artist on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 (nine non-consecutive weeks), the only country song by a woman to triple up and go #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country and Country Airplay chart simultaneously and just the seventh country song solely recorded by a woman to go #1 on the Hot 100 in the history of the chart. In case that wasn’t enough, thanks to the success of her sophomore album, Dandelion, which debuted at #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and sold 169,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week, Langley became just the second woman in history to hold the #1 album and song in the U.S. simultaneously with a country song/album. Of course, Taylor Swift was the first, going #1 with Red (Taylor’s Version) and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” back in 2021. She’d make even more history back on May 18th when “Choosin’ Texas” spent its 10th week at #1 on the Hot 100 and “Be Her” held strong at #2 for a second straight week. In turn, she became the first country artist IN HISTORY to hold the Top 2 songs in the United States simultaneously for more than one week. This broke her out a tie with Morgan Wallen, who became the first country artist to do so upon the release of I’m The Problem last May, when he owned the top three songs with “What I Want,” “Just in Case” and “I’m the Problem.” All told, Ella has spent a record-setting 28 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, dating back to December 2025 – which means it’s the longest-running #1 song by a female artist in the history of the chart, and the only song that topped the chart in 2026 until it was dethroned for the first time last week by Taylor Swift’s new song, “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5. This will no doubt end up being one of the biggest and most in-demand tours of 2026, and honestly between the time the shows were booked and when the tour was announced, Ella has probably already outgrown the venues she’s playing on these tours – which will only make it harder for fans to get tickets, even if Ticketmaster were a functioning platform. Best of luck to everybody fighting with Ticketmaster today. You’re going to need it.The post Ella Langley Crashes Ticketmaster, Presale Paused For New ‘Dandelion Tour’ Dates first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

In her disco era. Miranda Lambert is taking her music in a very different direction, and as she continues to tease new music with her new label MCA, marking a new chapter in her decorated recording career, she’s venturing into a new avenue of country music. This morning, she announced her new album Crisco, which is due out everywhere on October 2nd. She co-produced it with Frasure, and it will feature12 tracks as Miranda explores “heartbreak and hope, highways and honky-tonks, rhinestones and reflection, creating a record that feels both timeless and refreshingly alive”: View this post on Instagram She says that she’s always loved “every corner of country music,” and with Crisco, she wanted to lean into the more fun, upbeat kinds of songs that “make you dance”: “I’ve always loved every corner of country music. The heartbreak songs, the honky-tonk songs, the songs that make you think and the songs that make you dance. Making this record reminded me that those things don’t have to be separated. We followed the songs wherever they wanted to go, trusted our instincts and ended up with something that feels really fun and really honest to who I am.” She’s already released the title track, and has teased the next song dropping this Friday called “Till The Going’s Gone,” the album will also include tracks like “Whiskey Business,” “Cuttin’ Onions,” “Cowgirl Curtsy” and “Two Things Can Be True,” and her duet with Chris Stapleton that was released last year, “A Song To Sing,” is also included. On “Crisco,” which was the first taste of where her muse has taken her, Miranda said she wanted it to feel “nostalgic” and fun, adding that it was a unique challenge to make a song that was “familiar” and “Fresh” at the same time, and of course, she was deeply inspired by the likes of  Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and that 70s and 80s time when those artists in particular were fusing in a lot of disco: “We wanted something that feels familiar but also fresh, which is really hard to do. We leaned into all the things I grew up loving about country music – Glen Campbell, Kenny and Dolly; very ’70s and ’80s. It’s a fun mix of all these sides of country music that I’ve never fully explored before, even down to using strings in a bigger way. I almost can’t believe I’ve made this many records without really going there, but it was magical to hear how much strings can transform a song.” Based on the several songs she’s released thus far, that seems to be a theme in terms of the sound, and I love 70s and 80s-era music of any kind, and really any genre, so I love that she’s playing with that here. From iconic songs like “Southern Nights” and of course “Islands in the Stream,” it’s nothing new for disco to be part of country. I mean, who could forget the whole Urban Cowboy scene? But I’m here for it because Miranda is the kind of artist who can do it and do it well. It won’t be for everybody, but I can appreciate her trying something new and going in a different direction with this new chapter. Miranda recruited longtime collaborators and incredible writers in Natalie Hemby, Ashley Monroe, Waylon Payne, Aaron Raitiere, Josh Osborne and more, and even though the music might sound a little bit different than what we’re used to hearing from Miranda, I have no doubt the writing will be everything we always expect from her and more. It’s no secret that she can do down-the-middle country like nobody’s business, and she’s certainly earned the right to experiment and do whatever she wants, and I will certainly be listening and I really can’t wait to hear it all. You can check out the full Cricso tracklist below. Crisco Track List: 1. Snakeskin Boots 2. Crisco 3. Cowgirl Curtsy 4. Two Things Can Be True 5. Cuttin’ Onions 6. Till The Going’s Gone 7. To Everything 8. Whiskey Business 9. Right Where We Left It 10. A Song To Sing (with Chris Stapleton) 11. I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song 12 .Sunset Marquis “Crisco” “A Song To Sing” The post Miranda Lambert Announces New Album, ‘Crisco’ first appeared on Whiskey Riff.