Whatever helps get you through the heartbreak. Chancey Williams, the rodeo cowboy turned country star, is one of the most authentic artists in country music today…but even he has to lie to himself every once in awhile. As a saddle bronc athlete known for his authentic Wyoming sound and being one of only two artists (along with Chris LeDoux) to both compete and headline Cheyenne Frontier Days, Chancey is back with his next single “It’s My Lie,” a steel-soaked country heartbreaker about doing – and telling yourself – whatever it takes to get through the pain of a heartbreak: “It ain’t so bad being alone In fact, life got good when you got gone Guess I just ain’t cut out to be hemmed up and all tied down No, I was born a rolling stone I’ll admit I get a little bit lit Down at Losers every afternoon And on my way to the house I’ve been known to stop at Al’s And have another round or two Yeah, I know what you’re thinkin’ but the reason that I drink Ain’t got a thing to do with thinkin’ ’bout you If you don’t mind, hey it’s my lie And I’ll tell it like I want to” The cleverly-written lyrics were penned by Brice Long and Wynn Varble, a country hitmaker whose songs were a staple of the charts in the early 2000s. And as Chancey tells Whiskey Riff, it’s got a sound reminiscent of another country superstar from that time: “Wynn Varble and my producer, Brice Long, wrote this one. Those guys are great with phrasing and I love what they did here. I’m a Gary Allan fan and “It’s my Lie” has this awesome early 2000’s Gary Allan vibe. Plus, I feel for the guy in the song, he’s just going to do what he’s going to do, ya know? He’s lying to himself, but it’s his lie and he’s gonna tell it like he wants to.” (He’s spot on, both with the comparison and being a fan of Gary Allan…such an underrated artist). “It’s My Lie” drops everywhere tomorrow, but we’re pumped to give you the first listen of the song and your chance to hear it before it’s out: If you haven’t had a chance (no pun intended) to dig into Chancey’s catalog, he’s one of my favorite artists out there right now with his traditional country and western sound and authentic, often-whiskey soaked lyrics. He first got my attention with his 2023 album One of These Days, and followed it up with his stellar 2025 release Miles On Me, both of which are staples of my playlists and sure to appeal to fans of authentic country music. Chancey will also be making his big-screen acting debut next month in the upcoming Western short film Becoming Billy – An Outriding the Devil Origin Story, and with the popularity of shows like Yellowstone showcasing the western lifestyle, it truly does feel like it’s Chancey’s turn to shine. After all, they don’t get any more authentic than a rodeo cowboy turned country star – even if he has to lie to himself sometimes to get over a heartbreak.The post EXCLUSIVE FIRST LISTEN: Chancey Williams’ New Single “It’s My Lie” Proves That Even The Most Authentic Cowboys Have To Lie To Themselves Sometimes first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

It's been quite the journey for Parker McCollum; his latest album is less about numbers and more about pure passion for music. Continue reading…

Benjamin Tod has done it again. As the April 17 release date of his forthcoming record Vengeance & Grace quickly approaches, Tod continues to build anticipation for the project through spectacular singles, and he’s got another brand new one on the way tomorrow. But why wait another day when you can check out his next single “End of My Rope” now? That’s right, we’re bringing you an exclusive first-listen of Tod’s next track ahead of its official release, but before you press play, it’s helpful to understand where Tod is coming from on this one. As always, there is more to his music than what meets the ear of the casual listener. But if you dive into the context, his music just carries that much more weight. In case you haven’t been following along lately, Tod’s 12th studio album – and fifth without his former band Lost Dog Street Band – features two versions of 10 killer original songs. The “(Alone)” versions are stripped back, acoustic, and vulnerable, while the other version of each song takes a bigger, full band approach to the sonic aspect. This bifurcated approach is meant to drive home the dueling nature of the two themes in the albums title, Vengeance & Grace, and adds a unique element to what is shaping up to be another special project from Benjamin Tod. The fifth new track released of the album tomorrow, “End of My Rope” is a poignant song that showcases his succinctly powerful lyricism, and its song contents play right into the greater album’s themes. Having spent the majority of his teenage years and young adulthood as a drifter and addict, Tod traded his adolescence for a vagrant life in boxcars and busking on street corners. Though he has since found sobriety and values faith and family over his previous lifestyle, it is clear in “End of My Rope” that he still grapples in ways with the mistakes he has made in his life and the impact they may have on his standing in eternity. Give the full band version of his newest single a listen for yourself here: “It’s a heavy blow, I’ve got nowhere to go The silence is clear eternity’s near At the end of my rope” Another intense song from one of country music’s most thoughtful songwriters, this full band version of “End of My Rope” hits hard. But just imagine how heavy the stripped-back acoustic delivery of this one is going to hit in the “(Alone)” version, too. If you’re able to handle the Magnitude of songs like “End of My Rope,” then be sure to check out the tracklist for Tod’s Vengeance & Grace record below, and listen to the other singles released thus far as well. Vengeance and Grace Tracklist “Vengeance and Grace” “End of My Rope” “It’s What You Meant” “Goner” “Closing the Door” “Martyr of a Man” “My Pride” “Ticket Home” “The Bottle’s Gone” “I Ain’t Bound” “Vengeance and Grace (Alone)” “End of My Rope (Alone)” “It’s What You Meant (Alone)” “Goner (Alone)” “Closing the Door (Alone)” “Martyr of a Man (Alone)” “My Pride (Alone)” “Ticket Home (Alone)” “The Bottle’s Gone (Alone)” “I Ain’t Bound (Alone)” With the recent arrival of their first child, Tod and Ashley Mae – his wife and Lost Dog Street Band bandmate – announced an indefinite hiatus to their touring with the familiar outfit. Instead, Tod is set to hit the road and bring these songs to you live backed by his new band The Inline Six. And trust me, this is not a show you are going to want to miss if he and the band are road-dogging through your city. Check out the tour dates here: Benjamin Tod Tour Dates 4/16 – Ozark Music Hall – Fayetteville, AR+ 4/17 – Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK+ 4/19 – Longhorn Ballroom – Dallas, TX+ 4/20 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX+ 4/21 – Emo’s Austin – Austin, TX+ 4/23 – La Rosa – Tuscon, AZ+= 4/25 – Stagecoach – Indio, CA* 4/26 – The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA^ 4/28 – Ace of Spades – Sacramento, CA^ 4/30 – The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT^ 5/1 – Mishawaka Amphitheatre – Bellevue, CO^ 5/2 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO^! 5/4 – Madrid Theatre – Kansas City, MO^ 5/5 – Gilloz Theatre – Springfield, MO^ 5/7 – Bluebird Nightclub – Bloomington, IN^ 5/8 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH^ 5/9 – Brooklyn Bowl Nashville – Nashville, TN#$ 7/9 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN# 7/10 – Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI# 7/11 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL# 7/12  – Woody’s Des Moines, IA# 7/14 – The Lincoln – Cheyenne, WY# 7/16 – Old Saloon – EMigrant, MT# 7/17 – Under the Big Sky Festival – Whitefish, MT* 7/20 – Jackson Hole Center for the Arts – Jackson, WY% 7/23 – Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA% 7/24 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR% 7/25 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR% 7/26 – Knitting Factory Concert House – Boise, ID% 7/30 – Slowdown – Omaha, NE% 7/31 – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO% 8/1 – The Burl – Lexington, KY$ 10/1 – Bogart’s – Cincinnati, OH~@ 10/2 – Globe Iron – Cleveland, OH@ 10/3 – The Majestic Theatre – Detroit, MI@ 10/4 – Roxian Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA@ 10/6 – Anthology – Rochester, NY@ 10/8 – Higher Ground Ballroom – South Burlington, VT@ 10/9 – Higher Ground Ballroom – South Burlington, VT@ 10/10 – State Theatre – Portland, ME& 10/11 – Royale – Boston, MA& 10/13 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY&? 10/15 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA& 10/16 – Howard Theatre – Washington D.C.& 10/17 – The Jefferson Theatre – Charlottesville, VA& 10/18 – Cat’s Cradle – Carborro, NC& 10/20 – The Fillmore – Charlotte, NC** 10/22 – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA** 10/23 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC** 10/24 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC** 10/25 – Thee Mill & Mine – Knoxville, TN**$ *festival date +w/ Coleman Jennings =w/ Jason Dea West ^w/ Colton Bowlin !w/ Johno Leeroy #w/ Leon Majcen $w/ Ivan Macleod %w/ Kelsey Waldon ~w/ Wes Shipp @w/ Candi Jenkins &w/ Tommy Prine ?w/ Molly Ruth **w/ Conrad MooreThe post Exclusive Premiere: Benjamin Tod Grapples With His Past And Mortality In New Single, “End of My Rope” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

If that’s the worst she’s done, I’d say she’s doing pretty good. Lainey Wilson has seemingly managed to remain the down-to-earth girl from Louisiana who moved to Nashville with practically nothing, even though she’s become a household names and one of the biggest stars in country music. And while she pretty much always comes across as very kind and normal, Lainey explained during an interview won the Kelleigh Bannen show that she still remembers a story from Elizabethtown, Colorado, where she felt her ego show up a little bit right before she was supposed to walk on stage. She recalled standing by the stairs, with the music playing, as she was seconds away from walking on stage, and the security guard by the stairs told her he needed to see her pass. Well, as you can imagine, that was not going to be possible… I mean, Lainey was literally standing there with her guitar on and her band was on stage starting the show. She said she’s not proud of what she said next, but she looked the guy in the eyes and said: “I am the pass.” Really, what else was she supposed to say? Time was ticking and she had places to be… “This one time, I had an ego and didn’t even mean to have one, we were playing a festival in, I think it was Elizabethtown, Colorado, it was like a rodeo festival type thing. And I was about to walk on stage, there was just a couple hundred people there, and I had my guitar strapped on me. The man standing right by the stairs for me to walk on stage goes, ‘I need to see your pass.’ I accidentally, because the music has started I was about to walk up, I go, ‘I am the pass.’ And it was like, who am I? Oh my gosh… I’m not proud of that. I said, I can go get my pass, but it’s got my face on it, believe me. Like, I gotta get up there, bro. I gotta get up there.” I feel like that’s incredibly mild, to say the least, in terms of a celebrity having an ego, and if that’s the kind of thing that still haunts Lainey, then she has absolutely nothing to worry about… what a gem: @thekelleighbannen “Who am I?” @Lainey Wilson #countrymusic #laineywilson ♬ original sound – Kelleigh Bannen Lainey has been playing shows this year, and just a little over a week ago, she released a new single called “Can’t Sit Still,” which she wrote with Trannie Anderson, Aslan Freeman and Dallas Wilson. She is also in a feature film called “Reminders of Him” which just recently came out in theaters,, making her acting debut on the big screen, and in addition to touring, she has an in-depth documentary called “Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool,” set for release on Netflix April 22nd. In addition to everything going on in her professional life, Lainey is currently trying to plan a wedding with her fiancé Duck that she says is happening this year too. I imagine this song could be part of a forthcoming album, considering she put out her most recent album Whirlwind in 2024, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she puts out some new music this year too… stay tuned. “Can’t Sit Still” The post Lainey Wilson Shares The Biggest Diva Moment She’s Had So Far In Her Career: “I’m Not Proud Of That” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Absolute madness. We’re through the first two rounds of our 2026 Whiskey Riff Madness tournament, and it’s safe to say this is the wildest tournament we’ve seen in the nearly decade that we’ve been doing the annual tournament. In case you’re just getting caught up, this year we took 64 artists from every corner of country music, from mainstream to Texas country to red dirt to Appalachia and everything in between, and we’re letting you vote for your favorite. We based the seeding on monthly Spotify listens so people couldn’t complain that artists were seeded too low or too high (and of course people are still complaining that the seeding is wrong, but that’s baseball I guess). Anyway, the round of 64 saw a record number of votes in the history of Whiskey Riff Madness en route to some stunning upsets – including #16-seed Colby Acuff over #1-seed Chris Stapleton. And the second round got even more crazy. First things first: Once again, you set a record for the most votes EVER in a round of our annual tournament, with well over 13,000 ballots being cast by the time it was all said and done. But there were still some insanely close matchups, including one that was decided by less than 40 votes out of 13k. But first let’s start with the blowouts, which included #14-seed Turnpike Troubadours coming out on top with the largest margin of victory in the round, taking home 76% of the vote against #6-seed HARDY. #12-seed Cody Jinks also blew out #4-seed Luke Bryan with 73% of the vote, and Treaty Oak Revival fans also showed up in a BIG way to push the #7 seed to a blowout over #15-seed Charley Crockett. Then we had a few nail biters, including #9-seed Midland putting up a heck of a fight against #1-seed Luke Combs before ultimately coming up short, as well as #13-seed Sturgill Simpson squeaking out a victory against #12-seed Jamey Johnson in a battle that was back and forth the entire round. The closest matchup of this round, though, came to us from battle between the #1-overall seed Morgan Wallen and #8-seed Hudson Westbrook. Wallen jumped out to an early lead and at one point looked like he might run away with it, but it didn’t take long for Westbrook to battle his way back. And in a battle that went down to the wire and ended up being decided by less than 40 votes… Morgan Wallen FALLS to Hudson Westbrook, who managed to come out on top with 50.2% of the vote. That’s why they call it March Madness, folks. Let’s see, are there any other matchups worth talking about? I’m kidding, we can’t not talk about the Cinderella run that has shocked the internet and created quite the buzz in the country music world: Colby freakin’ Acuff. After rallying the troops and knocking off one of the most decorated artists in country music history, you didn’t really think he was going to be satisfied with just making it through the first round, did you? Because once again, Colby put on the performance of the round, waging a meme campaign for the ages against #9-seed Dierks Bentley: Babe wake up, New Colby video just dropped pic.twitter.com/jVxG1eVqgK — Colby Acuff (@ColbyAcuff) March 25, 2026 And this time Dierks even got in on the fun: Unfortunately for Dierks, the Hot Country Knights fans were no match for a man on a mission, a warrior in the field with CapCut as his sword and a loyal army behind him with their thumbs on the trigger. At the end of the day, Colby once again came out on top, taking down the lead singer of the Hot Country Knights with 67% of the vote. I think it’s fair to ask: Can Colby be considered an underdog at this point? Well things aren’t getting any easier for him, because now that we’re in the Sweet Sixteen, he’s headed to battle with the Red Clay Strays…dare I say this may be his toughest matchup yet? We’ll find out I guess. But it’s hard to bet against him. Anyway, here’s a look at the full bracket so far: And here’s a closer look at each region: South East Midwest West Those are some TOUGH matchups. We’re getting down to the end, so it’s only going to get harder, but Tyler Childers and Shane Smith & the Saints have both won both of their matchups pretty easily and now they’re going head to head. And Zach Top vs. Charles Wesley Godwin is a battle between two of the best in the business right now. I’m glad I’m not the one who has to decide on these… So with that said, voting is open NOW to send your favorite artists to the Elite Eight. You can vote at the link HERE or using the form below. Voting in this round ends on Sunday, March 29 at 11:59 pm central time, and you can vote as many times as you’d like. So rally the fanbases for your favorite artists, because as we saw in the last round, every single vote counts. Loading… And in honor of his Cinderella run this year, we’ve got limited-edition Colby Acuff shirts to celebrate. Get them here – available as long as he’s still in the tournament. Country Music Madness just got a whole lot more interesting. Get your shirts NOW @ColbyAcuff @whiskeyriffshop https://t.co/Nlb3AfyZAC pic.twitter.com/rijXFZ60rM — Whiskey Riff (@WhiskeyRiff) March 25, 2026 The post WHISKEY RIFF MADNESS 2026: Vote NOW To Send Your Favorite Artists To The Elite Eight first appeared on Whiskey Riff.