Luke Combs is a bit tired of the politicization of everything at all times. And if you paid any attention to the conversation surrounding the US Men’s Hockey Team right now, it’s not hard to agree with him, The country music hitmaker has been around long enough to see how politics have even creeped into music. For Combs, he does his best to stay out of it all. But on rare occasions, he’s either chosen to insert himself into the political conversation, or he’s been dragged into it by something in his past. In case you don’t remember, Luke Combs caught a bit of heat during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement after people (you can guess which side of the aisle) dug up a music video from 2015 that featured some Confederate flag imagery. In 2021, Luke joined a panel discussion about racism in country music with Maren Morris where he essentially apologized and said he wasn’t a racist. He felt like he was simply doing the right thing. But as a result of that conversation, many labeled him “soft,” “woke”, and if nothing else, a “liberal.” And as he explained in a recent interview with the New York Times’ Popcast, he still comments on his social media to this day because of it: “There’s always something on my videos like, ‘I can’t believe you like Luke Combs, he’s a liberal.’ One, I’ve never said what I am. That’s the thing that blows me away the most about it. Basically seven years ago, me saying that I was not a racist led to people saying, ‘Well he must be a liberal.’ I’ve been accused of a million things. I would consider myself heavily moderate in everything. That’s to the point where I’m not liberal enough for liberals and I’m not conservative enough for conservatives. I kind of like it that way. I also kind of like people not really knowing what I have going on politically.”  Combs went on in the interview to ask why all of “I’m this” or “I’m that” really matters at all. He disclosed that he’s got friends on both sides of the aisle, and that politics never get in the way of their friendships. The country music superstar is a bit tired of the political takeover. Combs doesn’t understand why him coming out and saying that he’s not racist gets him labeled as left-leaning, and he really doesn’t get why country music has become so intertwined with politics: “There was a time when people were actively trying to cancel me and saying, ‘This guy is a liberal.’ I never said that. I never said I was liberal. I never said I wasn’t. To me, it’s like… how is it hard to say you aren’t a racist? That’s all I’m saying… And I’m not a guy that feels like I need to push some sort of agenda. I’m a musician. No one is calling Donald Trump and asking him how to write a song. No one is calling AOC and saying, ‘How do I make my album better?’ Why do we care what Chris Stapleton thinks about politics?” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I definitely don’t think it’s always been that way. At the very least, people used to feel one way or the other about politics, and it wasn’t the end-all, be-all. But now, at least according to some, your political affiliation a life or death indictment of your morality. You’re on the right side, or the wrong side… an ally, or an enemy. And at the end of the day, there’s a lot of people who just don’t care about politics at all. It sounds like Luke Combs misses how things used to be. And in all of the efforts he’s made in recent years that have made people call him liberal, all he’s really trying to do is let the world know that the country music world is an inclusive place: “I’m not on here to change anybody’s mind, or change what country music is, or tell anybody who they should vote for or how they should live their lives. But I’m also not afraid to go out and say, ‘Hey man, country music is a place where I feel like anyone should be able to come and enjoy the music.’ They want you to be this or this. There’s no middle ground, grey area. There’s no headlines and there’s no clickbait in being a moderate.” And that’s exactly what country music is. Anyone and everyone can go to a country music show, and they do… every weekend, all across America. Of course, it’s the media that continues to drive this “country music is racist” narrative, and then those prone to fear mongering, hysteria and virtue signaling buy into it, perpetuate it and then here we are… having conversations like this. Fun times… You can hear more from Luke Combs on the matter in the interview below: The post “I Never Said I Was A Liberal”: Luke Combs Pushes Back Against Political Labels first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Safe to say that Sturgill Simpson wasn’t a fan of Garth Brooks’ Chris Gaines era. It’s honestly a wonder that anyone was. The country music superstar made his out-of-left-field career turn while he was one of the most popular artists on the planet. Then he kind of went away for a while before returning to his regular, Garth Brooks ways. His alter ego experiment is one that will live on in infamy for years to come. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, Garth Brooks flipped the whole music industry on its head when he rolled out a punk/rock alter ego by the name of Chris Gaines in 1999. Some might call the idea inventive. Others might label it unintentionally hilarious and colossally embarrassing. An album titled Garth Brooks in… the Life of Chris Gaines was released in September of that year, and was supposed to be a pre-soundtrack for a movie about Gaines that was to come out in 2000. That movie, allegedly titled The Lamb, was never filmed. However, we still have the VH1 Chris Gaines special that came out, which just might be the most absurd documentary the world has ever seen. It touched on the life of Gaines, which included sex, trauma, death, car crashes, plane crashes, house fires, scandals… and pretty much every other wild thing you could think up. All in all, the endeavor by Garth Brooks was straight up weird, and it still gets talked about in the modern day. The topic was even touched on back in 2014, when Sturgill Simpson sat down on The Joe Rogan Experience for the first time shortly after his breakout album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music was released. Host Joe Rogan was talking to Simpson about how scary it would be to get trapped in one’s career, and having so much success that it ties your hands to doing only one thing. That sparked the talking point of Chris Gaines, and Rogan asked Simpson what he thought about that era of Garth’s career. The artist that’s know known as Johnny Blue Skies offered up a scathing review: “Chris Gaines man… woof. There was nobody there to say, ‘Hey, maybe you shouldn’t do this.’ He was surrounded by yes people. You just know. If someone was like, ‘Yeah, that’ll be cool.'” Chris Gaines = not cool. Johnny Blue Skies = really cool. Sturgill is probably right in saying that though. No one told Garth to pump the brakes on that big idea? Or at least approach it with a little bit less seriousness? The pair talked about Chris Gaines for a while in that 2014 episode, and eventually, Simpson capped it off with this thought: “High art man. It’s his filtered interpretation of… I think he was going for a Ryan Adams-sy sort of thing. Or he went f***ing nuts. That’s a very distinct possibility.” One of those two, for sure. Simpson went on to say that, at some point, country music turned into a “really s***** Van Halen concert,” and blamed it on the ripples that were created by Garth Brooks years earlier. Even in the early days of Sturgill’s career, he wasn’t afraid to be outspoken against the genre’s biggest stars. As they say, this one is an oldie but a goodie: The post “Surrounded By Yes People”: Sturgill Simpson Offers Scathing Review Of Garth Brook’s Chris Gaines Era On An Old Joe Rogan Podcast first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Brooks & Dunn’s iconic song “Neon Moon” is likely the greatest honky tonk bar stool heartbreak track of all time. And on this date in 1992, the duo released it as the third single from their debut album Brand New Man. A solo write by Ronnie Dunn, it eventually became the duo’s third consecutive #1 single on the country charts. It’s hard to overstate just how important the song has been within the country genre, specifically during the glorious period that was ’90s country, and it hasn’t remained an absolute timeless heartbreaker for over 30 years no for a reason. “Neon Moon” captures the essence of heartbreak and loneliness that comes along with drinking away your troubles in the glow of a dark bar under the neon light like no other country song ever has, and probably ever will. Kix explained that, of course, this is the tune that launched them to the forefront of mainstream country back in the beginning of their career: “After all these years, I hear more people say ‘Man, I love ‘Neon Moon’. I think it’s the song of the whole catalog.’ And obviously, that’s a song Ronnie wrote by himself, and I give him a hard time about, just it’s been so successful. But he’s right, the night that we won our first awards, you know big awards, we won two ACM’s that night. It was the same week that ‘Neon Moon’ went #1. And the next week our sales doubled. And it really started blowing up. And then ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’ was the single after that. Those two years after that were as exciting as you could ever dream about when you’re learnin’ to tune a guitar.” In the most Texas way possible, Ronnie added that he doesn’t think it could’ve been anymore incredible to watch their career grow the way it did as a result of this song: “That’s as fast as a horse can run.” This one has of course been covered countless times over the years, and even reimagined by Brooks & Dunn themselves with a different generation of country stars, and I think the fact that it continues to stand the test of time goes to show how brilliant, and relatable, it is. The lyrics speak to people from all over the world, with all kinds of different backgrounds, because we all know what it feels like to get your heart broken, and Ronnie Dunn captured that in a way that’s never been done before or since with this song. Nothing compares to the timeless original, but there are some great renditions that have been done over the years, and I think you might find at least a couple you’ve never heard before on this list that give the song a really different, but classic, feel with a totally different spin. Cigarettes After Sex Cigarettes After Sex is an American dream pop from in El Paso, Texas, that was started in 2008 by Greg Gonzalez in 2008. His voice has been describes as “androgynous,” which is definitely the right word and it’s incredibly unique in terms of the sound and tone. They put out this super cool version of “Neon Moon” in 2018, and it’s definitely not the country heartbreaker we’re used to hearing, but I think music fans who appreciate artistry and different interpretations of classic songs will find this version really interesting… it’s definitely “Neon Moon” like you’ve never heard it before. Carrie Underwood Carrie Underwood performed “Neon Moon” for ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn — The Last Rodeo in 2010, which was a televised CBS tribute concert honoring the duo. Plenty of stars sang their hits, but of course, Carrie stole the show with the song she’s been signing since she was just eight years old. Leon Bridges Leon Bridges is a R&B star, but he was raised in Texas, so of course, he knows his country music too, and he has worked with artists like Miranda Lambert, Luke Combs and Charley Crockett before, so I think it’s safe to say he knows is stuff. This one is really cool, too: @leonbridgesofficial Taking Neon Moon for a spin. Always been a favorite. #neonmoon #cover @Brooks & Dunn #leontour #leonbridges #lb4 #ontour #livemusic #newmusic #brooksanddunn ♬ Neon Moon – Brooks & Dunn Morgan Wallen The most recent version on this list, Morgan Wallen teamed up with Brooks & Dunn as part of their 2024 Reboot II album, which featured re-recordings of their hits with guest vocals from other artists. They allowed the artists to really run with it in terms of changing up the production or any other aspects of the songs, but Morgan stayed pretty true to the original and they sound great together: Kacey Musgraves Kacey Musgraves was the first one to reimagine this song for the first edition of Reboot which was released in 2019. It was the same concept of the 2024 version, just with different artists, and Kacey’s version of “Neon Moon” with Kix and Ronnie remains my favorite out of both projects to this day. There’s something so melancholy and vibey about what she did with the production, and it has something I just can’t put my finger on that makes it so alluring. I normally would never want to hear such a classic with any sort of new production, but she really nailed this and I still listen to it all the time. It’s easily my favorite “new” version of “Neon Moon” I’ve ever heard, and I don’t think that will ever change. Nothing beats the original, though… The post Top 5 Covers Of Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon” In Honor Of The Country Classic Turning 34 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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