Honoring some legends of yesterday and today. Today, the Academy of Country Music (ACM) announced its special honorees for the 19th annual ACM Honors Awards, which will be taking place on Wednesday, August 19th, at The Pinnacle in Nashville. Returning for her sixth straight year, Carly Pearce will host the star-studded night alongside reigning Album of the Year winner, Parker McCollum. In case you aren’t familiar with the concept of ACM Honors, unlike the ACM Awards, which highlight an artist’s individual performance, album or event, it awards recipients for their impact on the genre at large in a multitude of different categories, including the Poet’s Award, International Award, Spirit Award, Lifting Lives Award and many more. Given his long history of charity and philanthropy, Eric Church is receiving the 2026 ACM Lifting Lives Award. In particular, the ACM highlighted his massive effort in the wake of the Hurricane Helene, which included co-organizing the Concert for Carolina with Luke Combs, donating all royalties from his single, “Darkest Hour,” and continuing to remain active in the rebuilding of North Carolina. Additionally, the Academy would also point to his non-profit, Chief Cares, which has given millions in support, including helping orphanages in Nepal, relief efforts in Haiti, and humane society no-kill shelters. The late, great Brett James, who tragically died in an airplane crash this past September, is set to posthumously receive the Poet’s Award alongside The Carter Family for their songwriting careers. James, in particular, wrote a laundry list of smash hits, including the likes of Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” Jessica Andrew’s “Who I Am,” Kenny Chesney’s “When The Sun Goes Down,” Jason Aldean’s “The Truth” and many more. The ACM Spirit Award, which was inspired by Merle Haggard and is “presented to an honoree that exemplifies Merle’s dedication to country music and passion for storytelling,” will go to none other than Kacey Musgraves. Musgraves, a 7x time ACM Award winner and 8x Grammy winner, is fresh off her most successful album to date, Middle of Nowhere, which debuted at #3 all-genre back in May. Taylor Sheridan’s hit show, Landman, is also being honored, receiving the ACM Film Award. Of course, this is thanks to its killer soundtrack that features the likes of Turnpike Troubadours, Colter Wall, George Strait, Ella Langley, Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, The Red Clay Strays and many more.  As for the Icon Award, “Whisperin'” Bill Anderson and Mike Curb will be honored thanks to their roles across a plethora of different avenues throughout the decades. For Anderson, he co-wrote the likes of George Strait’s “Give It Away,” Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss’ “Whiskey Lullaby” and Kenny Chesney’s “A Lot of Things Different” and is also known for being an acclaimed author, television personality and radio personality. For Curb, he is the founder and owner of Curb Records. Since entering the music industry in the 1960s, Curb has worked with the likes of Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Wynonna Judd, Hank Williams Jr. and many more. Additionally, he co-wrote hits and themes for countless major films and television series, including films starring Clint Eastwood, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson and more. Ella Langley, who broke the record last month by winning seven trophies at the 61st ACM Awards, will be honored at the ceremony for her first-career Artist-Songwriter win, in particular. Other honorees include the likes of Scott Zolke for the Service Award, Leslie Fram for the Lift Every Voice Award, the festival, C2C: Country to Country, for the International Award and Jessie Jo Dillon for Songwriter of the Year. Full List of ACM Honors Recipients POET’S AWARD – Brett James and The Carter Family INTERNATIONAL AWARD – C2C: Country to Country FILM AWARD –Landman ICON AWARD – Bill Anderson and Mike Curb SPIRIT AWARD – Kacey Musgraves SERVICE AWARD – Scott Zolke LIFTING LIVES AWARD – Eric Church LIFT EVERY VOICE AWARD – Leslie Fram ARTIST-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR – Ella Langley SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR – Jessie Jo Dillon The post Eric Church, Ella Langley, Kacey Musgraves & More To Receive Awards At 19th ACM Honors first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Last night, Lainey Wilson had a huge surprise for fans at the Tight Ends & Friends Concert, which is part of the Tight End University, which is an annual three-day event in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 2021 by NFL stars George Kittle, Travis Kelce, and Greg Olsen, and they gather  over 40 current and former NFL tight ends to participate in on-field drills, film studies, and community building every year. It’s become a pretty big event, and considering that Travis’ fiancée Taylor Swift surprised everyone with a performance last year, and this year, the show was billed as including Lainey Wilson, Kane Brown, Dan + Shay and Chase Rice… but Taylor returned for another surprise performance. Lainey brought her out to cheering fans, where Taylor told the crowd that a “very special tight end” in George Kittle had requested for them to sing “Love Story,” so that’s what they did. She flashed her massive engagement ring from Kelce during the bridge, and of course, Lainey is recently married as of May, so I’m sure the two of them had a lot to talk about backstage in terms of everything that goes into planning a wedding (though Swift’s is obviously on a much different scale… there’s rumors she and Kelce are getting married at Madison Square Garden, though I’m not sure if that’s true). Fans think Swift and Kelce were both separately celebrating their Bachelor and Bachelorette parties this past weekend, as some of her friends were spotted at her home in Rhode Island, while Kelce was in and around California with friends, including attending the NASCAR race in San Diego at Naval Base Coronado. Of course, “Love Story” was included on Taylor’s second studio album Fearless and released in 2008. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the first country song to reach number one on Pop Songs. It went to the top of the US Hot Country Songs chart too, and has been certified eight-times platinum by the RIAA and has sold over 18 million copies worldwide. Lainey is of course a huge star and one of the biggest country artists doing it right now, but I’m sure it had to be cool for her to get to perform with Swift, who I imagine she probably listened to a lot as a teenager just a few years younger than Swift, so it’s cool to see her on stage with the biggest pop star in the world. Check it out: @extra_tv Taylor Swift makes a surprise appearance at the Tight Ends & Friends concert, duetting on her hit “Love Story” with Lainey Wilson! #taylorswift #teu #laineywilson #lovestory ♬ original sound – ExtraTV “Love Story” The post Lainey Wilson Brings Out Taylor Swift For Surprise Performance Of “Love Story” At Tight End University Concert first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

It will bring tears to my eyes every single time… so I get it. Ella Langley is now a country superstar thanks to her hit crossover “Choosin’ Texas,” which as well as her recently-released hit sophomore album Dandelion, which was produced by the one and only Mrs. Miranda Lambert. Miranda also co-wrote “Choosin’ Texas,” and the two of them have formed an incredible bond and deep friendship that goes way beyond just a professional thing. Ella is around my age, and like me, she grew up loving Miranda’s music, and she says the first song she ever heard of Miranda’s was her smash hit “The House That Built Me,” which came at a very difficult time in her family life. In a recent interview with Elaina Smith, Ella revealed that her family lost her childhood home when she was around 13-years-old because due to financial reasons, and it was around the time “The House That Built Me” was released, and it kickstarted her love for Miranda which has last for years now. I can’t even imagine how hard that was, and I have to imagine Ella has cried more than a few times listening to “The House That Built Me”: “And something I really watch Miranda do this last year, she was direct support from Morgan, and I was first at three. But I went out to watch her do ‘The House That Built Me,’ and that song to me like, we lost our house as a kid to financial stuff. I was like 13 or something, you know, and that song came out right around then. And I’ve never felt so connected to a song or a person in my life listening to that song. And that’s really what started my love for her, that’s the first thing I ever heard of hers.” She recalled hearing Miranda play it live last year when Miranda was Morgan Wallen’s direct support on tour, and Ella was the first of three to open the show. She couldn’t believe all of the emotion Miranda put into it, considering she’s done it so many times at this point. Somehow, she made it feel like the first time, and Ella says it was everything she wanted. That type of emotion is why Ella says she cuts very few outside writes, though that one is an outside write for Miranda, but because she connects with it so deeply, you’d never know it: “So I’d never seen her play live, and we’ve done this whole record together, like everything, you know. And it’s weird, because I’m sitting here writing songs with Miranda, and you forget it’s Miranda until she sings something, you’re like, ‘Is that really you?’ But I’m still such a fan of her and what she’s built, so going out there watching her sing that song, I mean, how times has Miranda sang ‘The House That Built Me’ at this point? Who knows, so many. But she gave me every bit of emotion I wanted out of her to sing that song. She could’ve just had a [bad day], you know, who knows… but that’s how she delivers the songs. and to me, that’s so important. That’s why there’s one outside song on this record, because when I’m singing them, it’s how do I relate to the fans if I can’t relate the songs that I’m singing?” The only outside write Ella cut on Dandelion is the incredible song “Speaking Terms,” which she’s spoken about extensively, and the first time you hear it, it’s easy to understand why she made that exception for that song. Of course, Miranda’s “The House That Built Me” was written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and was actually originally intended for her ex-husband Blake Shelton to record. But once Miranda heard it for the first time on a CD demo he played, it resonated so deeply that she knew she had to record it herself. She said previously in an interview with Today that she broke down the very first time she heard it (like many of us did, I’m sure): “It was beautiful… I mean, I just started bawling from the second I heard it. Blake was like, ‘If you have a reaction to this song like that, then you need to cut it.” Miranda ultimately included it as third single from her 2009 third studio album Revolution, where it eventually peaked at #1 and remains the fastest-rising single of her career. She won three ACM’s at that 2010 show, including one for Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year for Revolution and Video of the Year for “White Liar”. The following year, she won three more ACM’s for “The House That Built Me”, including Song of the Year, Single of the Year, and Video of the Year. It’s one of those songs for me that I can’t really listen to all that much, even though I think it’s one of the greatest country songs ever written… it makes me too emotional, and even though I love sad country songs more than anything, even for an ice queen like me, there are some that are just too much most days, and I don’t have the emotional capacity for it. Ella just gets it, and I think she will only continue to see more success as she follows Miranda’s lead while still carving out a path that’s completely her own… and I think we need a “The House That Built Me” cover from Ella now, too: View this post on Instagram Of course, I have to leave you with this… “The House That Built Me” The post Ella Langley Says Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” Came Out At The Same Time She Lost Her Own Childhood Home first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Can we get a collaboration from these two? Continue reading…

Alan Jackson's gift to Chris Young was signed by not one, but TWO legends. Continue reading…