There’s going to be a lot of country star power representing at the wedding of pop superstar Taylor Swift and her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. If you’re on social media, you’re probably already sick of hearing about this weekend’s wedding between Swift and Kelce, and after months of secrecy, it’s finally been revealed that the wedding will take place tomorrow, July 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Permits filed with the city for street closures from July 2-4 reveal that the couple expect to host around 1,000 guests at the event, which will reportedly feature performances from Tim McGraw and Stevie Nicks. And trucks have been spotted unloading massive amounts of gear, with TMZ reporting that the couple would construct a giant garden inside the New York City arena. Some still think it might be some sort of decoy, though most signs seem to be pointing to an MSG wedding, and honestly I think it’s a terrible place to have a wedding, but I get they want tight security so from that standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. The guest list is expected to include a ton of people, I mean 1,000 guests is just insane, but considering Taylor’s country roots, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that there will be quite a few country star on-hand to help celebrate the couple. It’s been rumored that Tim McGraw will performing, along with Stevie Knicks, and he certainly won’t be the only country artist in attendance (I assume his wife Faith Hill will also be there, as they’ve known Taylor forever now). Page Six also confirmed that Mrs. Miranda Lambert herself received an invitation, along with country artists in Kane Brown, Little Big Town, Kelsea Ballerini, Maren Morris, Kenny Chesney and even Lainey Wilson, who just got married herself and recently performed with Swift at Kelce’s TightEnd University concert in Nashville. Of course, Taylor has worked with most of them before seeing as she got her start in the country genre, and she and Miranda go pretty far back, and have even shared the stage before. They performed together in Greensboro, North Carolina in October of 2015 during a stop on Swift’s 1989 World Tour, where she brought Lambert out as a surprise special guest to duet Miranda’s hit song, “Little Red Wagon.” Taylor put out her debut self-titled country album in October of 2006, just about a year after Miranda put out her debut album Kerosene in March of 2005, and Miranda is only about six years older than Swift, so they really did come up in country around the same time. I have to imagine most of them will attend, and I’m sure at some point, we’ll get all the photos and videos and see everything about this wedding which has really become a massive event that the world is watching. The post All Of The Country Stars Expected To Attend Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce’s Wedding first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

One Landman star will now make as much as Billy Bob Thornton. Continue reading…

Can’t imagine a Fourth of July without hearing this song. There’s no Fourth of July playlist that’s complete without Toby Keith, who did more than maybe any country artist to support our country and our military. Where it was through his music or his extensive work with the USO, Toby was at the forefront of the post-9/11 wave of patriotism that swept country music. Over the course of his life, Toby participated in nearly 20 USO tours throughout his career, performing for over a quarter of a million service members in 17 different countries as they fought overseas. And of course one of the most popular songs on those tours was “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” The song was a patriotic rallying cry in the wake of the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks that went on to become one of Toby’s signature songs (and a staple of 4th of July playlists). But we were never supposed to hear it. Toby originally wrote the song to perform for troops on his USO tours, after growing frustrated with media coverage in the wake of the terrorist attacks. And when he performed the song for the troops, they went wild. He had never intended to actually record the song. But then-Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones told Toby that he didn’t have a choice, calling it “the most amazing battle song I’ve ever heard in my life.” “It’s your job as an entertainer to lift the morale of the troops. If you want to serve, that is what you can do.” Well with a charge like that from your military, Toby didn’t have a choice. He took “The Angry American” into the studio, and released it as the lead single from his album Unleashed. The song went to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and has since been certified 4x platinum. Of course it wasn’t without its controversy. Toby was scheduled to perform the song on an ABC patriotic special in 2002, but Canadian-born host Peter Jennings requested that he tone down the lyrics. Toby refused, and was removed from the show, later speaking on the controversy: “I thought it was hilarious. My statement was, ‘Isn’t he Canadian?’ to a bunch of press. They laughed and then I said, ‘Well, I bet Dan Rather wouldn’t kick me off his show.'” Then of course there was his highly-publicized feud with the Dixie Chicks (now just known as The Chicks) after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized the song in an interview with the Los Angeles Times: “I hate it. It’s ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant. It targets an entire culture – and not just the bad people who did bad things. You’ve got to have some tact. Anybody can write, ‘We’ll put a boot in your ass.’ But a lot of people agree with it. The kinds of songs I prefer on the subject are like Bruce Springsteen’s new songs.” Keith responded by attacking Maines as a songwriter: “She’s not a songwriter, so we can’t discuss the mechanics of the song. Why don’t you just go down on Second Avenue and pick one of those homeless guys and ask him what he thinks about it? To me it’s the same.” But that wasn’t the end of the beef: After her comments, Keith began displaying a doctored image of Maines and Saddam Hussein on the screen behind him at his shows. And the feud came to a head at the ACM Awards in 2003, when both Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks were nominated for Entertainer of the Year. During their performance that night, Maines took another shot at Keith by wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “F U T K.” You can use your imagination to figure out what that one stands for… But the Chicks weren’t even at the ACM Awards that night – instead, they performed in front of a more friendly crowd, live from one of their concerts in Austin, Texas. And it’s probably a good thing they weren’t in Vegas for the awards. On a night that featured tributes to our soldiers, bold proclamations from Wayne Newton celebrating the then-recent death of Saddam Hussein, and patriotic performances like Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten,” the Dixie Chicks didn’t exactly receive a warm reception at the ACM Awards. In fact, it was downright hostile. Every time the Dixie Chicks’ name was announced, the crowd in Vegas rained down boos. So when it came time to give out the Entertainer of the Year Award, presenter Vince Gill jokingly mumbled their name as he announced them as a nominee –  because he knew what was coming. Sure enough, the audience erupted in boos, while nice-guy Vince made a futile plea for forgiveness. But when the camera quickly cut to the next nominee, Alan Jackson, he seemed to be enjoying the moment as he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. So who won the night’s top prize? Well, none other than Toby Keith – thanks, no doubt, in large part to “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” and his support for the troops. And it’s thanks to the troops that we ever got to hear that now-classic song from Toby in the first place. The post Toby Keith Didn’t Plan On Releasing “Courtesy Of The Red, White & Blue” Until A Marine General Told Him It Was His Duty As An American first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

This isn’t the best Merle Haggard take I’ve ever seen… but it is the worst Merle Haggard take I’ve ever seen. When conversations arise of the most important figures in country music history, Merle Haggard’s name has got to be in there. The country icon was a pioneer for the genre, and is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential artists to ever take the stage. And if your favorite artist is a good songwriter, there’s a good chance they consider Merle a huge inspiration. So when someone on Reddit started saying he’s only good to listen to when you are drinking, country music fans rushed to the defense of the late, great artist. Reddit is a wonderful place to share opinions. It’s really just an online soundboard (often referred to as the “Front Page of the Internet”) where you can get unbiased and often helpful information. That being said, I don’t know if I’d consider this take on the r/CountryMusicStuff page helpful. Someone took to Reddit and implied that Merle Haggard is only a country artist that you cue up when you are drinking (or drunk). They asked this question, and then backed it up with some of their personal experiences listening to the Hag: “Does anyone actually listen to Merle Haggard while sober? ‘C.C. Waterback,’ ‘Going Where The Lonely Go,’ and ‘I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink’ are arguably three of the best juke joint songs ever written, but I have also almost never heard them out of that context. The only time I hear Merle played is either at a bar, or at a party where the drinks have long been opened.” What’s wrong with Merle Haggard playing at a bar or at a party? We country fans should be honored when The Hag comes on at any establishment, regardless of if drinks are flowing or not. Granted, Merle does have plenty of drinking songs, and those types of tunes are often fun to throw brewskis back to. But to basically come out and say Haggard is a one dimensional artist trapped by the confines of drinking anthems? That’s as absurd of a take as they come, and that’s why Redditors got busy disagreeing with the idea: “I listen to my vinyl (including Merle) while working from home, so I had better not be drunk while listening.” “33 years straightedge and a big Merle fan.” “Sounds like you need to dive deeper into his music man, respectfully.” “I listen on my way to my office job where I have to act professional lol. I’m good at it, but it takes its toll. I’m an outlaw at heart.” “Bro, his tributes to Bob Wills and Jimmie Rodgers are epic.” “He’s got lots of other great songs that don’t have to do with drinking, such as ‘Mama’s Hungry Eyes.'” “I listen to him all the time and I’ve never drank.” “What’s stopping you? I’ll kick back to a Merle record anytime, with a beer, a funky cigarette, both, or neither. Doesn’t matter, he’s a man for all moods. I’m gonna have a good time regardless and you can too.” A man for all moods indeed. Those are obviously some great defenses from the Merle Haggard fans out there. But my favorite response? That’d be from someone who decided to attack the drinking songs the initial Redditor referenced rather than bother to entertain the idea that Merle only does drinking songs well: “Those aren’t even his 3 best drinking songs. You’re missing ‘Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down,’ ‘Swinging Doors,’ and ‘Drink Up and Be Somebody.'” Damn straight. The post Country Fan Gets Roasted On Reddit For Saying Merle Haggard Is Only Good For Drunk Listening first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

He knows how to do a duet, that’s for sure. Riley Green is gearing up to release his new album That’s Just Me on September 18th, which will feature the already-released Toby Keith-influenced “Think As You Drunk,” which includes a sample of Toby Keith’s 2005  hit, “As Good As I Once Was.” And today, he announced the next song from the album, a duet with Hannah McFarland called “Go Again,” will drop tonight. It of course follows several successful duets he’s done with other country ladies. His songs with Ella Langley in “You Look Like You Love Me” and “Don’t Mind If I Do” were easily being the most successful of any of his duets, but he was always featured on Carly’s song “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay” which is great too. Hannah has been opening for Riley on his Cowboy As It Gets Tour, and they’ve been teasing a duet of some sort for a while now, and I have to imagine this is part of the tracklist for Riley’s aforementioned album. In typical Riley fashion, it finds him trying to run from a relationship, as the two go back and froth about whether or not it’s really the end for them: “I could climb on that bus and catch that ride back to Tennessee, You could kick them boots back off come in this bed and just hold me, We can both pretend to meet up again when you pass through, You can make me a memory, it can be the end, We can go again, yeah we can go again” Hannah is a talented up-and-coming artist, they sound great together, and I’m sure fans will like this song. Riley obviously has a great tracklist when it comes to doing duets with ladies in country, so I don’t see why this would be any different. Of course, everything he did with Ella was lightning in a bottle and can’t be recreated, but I’m always here for a good duet and you can listen to the teaser here: View this post on Instagram In addition to releasing a new album, Riley is officially joining The Voice this fall as a coach, and I imagine he might add a few more tour dates to his calendar at some point in the year too if he can manage to squeeze it in with everything else he’s got going on. “Think As You Drunk” Riley is currently on the road for his Cowboy As It Gets Tour, which is currently scheduled to wrap up in August. Cowboy As It Gets 2026 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 KingThe post Riley Green Teases New Duet With Hannah McFarland, “Go Again,” Dropping Tonight first appeared on Whiskey Riff.