Van Der Beek passed away after a battle with colorectal cancer. Continue reading…

Wait, a ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ video game??? Continue reading…

From a divorce drama-comedy to a gory new horror flick, here are new movies you can watch at home the weekend of February 13, 2026, on VOD or streaming for free. Continue reading…

I don’t think it’s any secret in country music that Garth Brooks and Eric Church aren’t best friends. And while most of us are well aware of the 2017 CMA Awards moment, it actually goes back even further than that. But before we get to that… let’s walk back through some of the history. In 2017, Eric Church famously called out Garth Brooks after the CMA Awards, following Garth’s big win for his sixth Entertainer of the Year trophy. During the that year, it didn’t take long for fans to notice that something was off while Garth was performing “Ask Me How I Know,” and he later admitted that he had been lip-syncing, blaming it on being sick and in the middle of a 12-show run in 10 days: “We did a game-time call on whether we did sing the track or lip-sync it, and decided to lip-sync because the voice is just not there and you want to represent country music the best you can.” Fans quickly took to Twitter to blast Garth for lip-syncing, especially on a night when he was crowned “Entertainer of the Year.” But it wasn’t just fans who were upset that he didn’t perform live. During an interview with Rolling Stone, Church had some harsh words for Garth: “We don’t use machines. We use instruments. So the winner of the biggest category of the night lip-synced in the biggest moment on the show? F*** that! And I didn’t like his excuse at all.” He also called lip-syncing a “red line” that he’ll never cross with his own performances: “It is and always will be a red line. It’s fabricated. I don’t want young artists thinking it’s OK, because it’s not.” Of course, his comments made waves, and while I personally agree with Eric, I think many, if not most, country music fans felt validated in hearing an artist speak out about something like this. I think most country music fans would rather have you go out there and sound like crap, compared to watching someone lip-sync. It’s not pop music, you’re not dancing all over the stage… it’s just frowned upon in a genre that tends to pride itself on authenticity. And then throw in the fact that fans were watching the so-called Entertainer of the Year do it? It didn’t sit well with a lot of people, and Eric called him out for it. But that wasn’t the last time Church called out Garth… After being was robbed of Entertainer of the Year during the 2019 CMA Awards, he took another not-so-subtle shot at Garth during a show the following week during a performance of Waylon Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” changing the lyrics to: “I know Garth didn’t do it this way.” He would later go on record and say that his line change was most about giving the fans something to get excited about, and that he didn’t care about trophies… and any real Eric Church fan would know he’s not lying about that, he’s never been about awards. So while I’m sure Church respects the success Garth has had as a country artist (I mean, he was singing his songs in high school), it seems like Eric hasn’t always been Garth’s biggest fan. Let’s go all the way back to the year 2006, when Eric had just put out his debut studio album Sinners Like Me, which was produced by Jay Joyce and put him on the map in terms of being an artist who was willing to go out on a limb with the kind of music he made. It really was so different than anything else coming out at that time, and that’s why is resonated so deeply with fans right away, reaching #7 on the U.S. Top Country Albums chart. In an interview with Today way back in 2006, Eric didn’t have much to say about how much he looked up to Garth, saying he would “take his record sales” but certainly didn’t own every album, implying that he was never a massive fan: “I’ll take his record sales. But I can’t say I owned every Garth record.” I mean, it’s so much funnier now knowing all the history between these two… I’m sure he meant nothing by it, really, he was a young artist still in his 20s at this point and certainly didn’t want to come out swinging at a massive, very established artist like Garth, but he also didn’t pretend like he knew every song and was some huge superfan. Plus, Garth had already been retired for a number of years by 2006… he wasn’t exactly at the forefront of the country scene. Considering how early this was in his career, I very much respect his honesty because you could probably count on one hand the number of artists who would be willing to do that these days. Hell, we’ve asked a number of artists about Garth on the podcast, and everybody has nothing but nice things to say about him. Eric went on to say: “I sing about real life. I try to write about me and the people I know. You narrow it down, keep it simple.” He’s only continued to do it his way, writing about real life and the people he knows, and today, Eric put out his live album Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive, which features an awesome live rendition of “Sinners Like Me,” among many other songs, so I’ll leave you with this… The post “Can’t Say I Owned Every Garth Record” – Eric Church’s Beef With Garth Brooks Goes Back Way Further Than Most People Realize first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Is there anything Willie Nelson can’t do? At 92-years-old (some might argue he’s 92-years-young), Nelson is still touring and performing live for his fans. He also just recently launched a business that’s now worth millions, and on top of that, he’s one of the most influential artists to have ever walked the Earth. With as long as Willie has been around and in the spotlight, you’d think we know everything there is to know about the Red-Headed Stranger… but have you heard the story about how he saved his childhood church? Nelson grew up in the small town Abbott, Texas. He and his older sister, Bobbie (who played piano in his band for years before passing away back in 2022), were raised by their grandparents in the Central Texas town. Willie and his sister grew up attending a little church called Abbott Methodist Church, and the building they frequented on Sundays ended up meaning a lot to them. So much so that, in 2006, when membership had dwindled (it apparently got down to just five people), Willie Nelson made a phone call to keep it afloat. According to KWTX, the United Methodist Conference had decided to close up the spiritual building and list it for sale. And who could blame them? Most of the pews were empty during services. But the church meant too much to Willie Nelson for him to sit idly by. When he found out that Abbott Methodist Church was in danger of shuttering, he called an old friend that was still in town and provided these seven words: “Go make an offer on the church.” Willie Nelson’s offer ended up being enough to keep the church firmly planted in Abbott, and now in 2026, some 20 years later, it’s a thriving church in the community once more. The current pastor, Stephen Girsh, is grateful that the country music legend stepped in when no one else would to save the building that means so much to so many. That being said, Pastor Stephen Girsh knows that the church really has God to think for working through Willie Nelson so that Abbott Methodist Church could continue leading others to Christ: “We are grateful that he saved the church and that we are able to continue that legacy now. Pretty awesome. It’s got a rich history with Willie being involved with it. But, it’s about serving the Lord and worshipping the Lord. Willie just happened to grow up here.” Willie Nelson has been known to drop into the church on occasion since it reopened following the country star’s successful purchase of the building. The current pastor recalls one time where the Red-Headed Stranger brought his sister, Bobbie, back to the place where they spent time together in their youth.  The piano in the sanctuary of the church was played by Bobbie, and Willie led vocals as they sang a song he penned in the 1950s and released in 1971: “They gathered around that piano and he sang ‘Family Bible’ while she played.” What a beautiful moment that must have been, and a moment that was only made possible by Nelson’s generosity and willingness to help out his hometown church. “Family Bible” by Willie Nelson The post Willie Nelson’s Childhood Church In Texas Was Going Under… So He Bought It first appeared on Whiskey Riff.