He didn’t snag a nomination at the 2025 CMA Awards — but that didn’t stop the rising country rocker from celebrating like he’d just taken home Entertainer of the Year. Continue reading…

As they should. Last week, the CMA Awards produced quite a few different storylines after what can only be described as one of the better shows in recent memory. This, of course, was highlighted by The Red Clay Strays shocking the world and finally dethroning Old Dominion as Vocal Group of the Year en route to their first-ever CMA win, Zach Top winning New Artist of the Year, Stephen Wilson Jr. giving a breath-taking performance of “Stand By Me” and Cody Johnson snapping Chris Stapleton’s four-year streak (and 8 out of last 10) as Male Vocalist of the Year on the way to his first win in the category. With that being said, however, one of the most viral and furthermore noteworthy moments of the night was none other than Lainey Wilson’s acceptance speech for Female Vocalist of the Year when she called out trolls online for pitting female stars such as herself, Ella Langley, Megan Moroney and more against each other. The “Watermelon Moonshine” singer, of course, thanked Jesus, as well as her team and family, in addition to acknowledging all of the women she was nominated alongside of: “It’s a good night. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you so much. My gosh, I was not prepared for this at all. But I will say, I’m so proud to be in this category with these women. Miranda, you have poured into me. You have sat around a fire with me and told me what to do, what not to do, and it is because of women like you… I mean, Dolly and Reba, all of the ladies have poured into me. Hillary, you have poured into me, Barbara Mandrell texted me back there, has poured into me. Jo Dee Messina texted me a three-minute prayer this morning, lifting me up, and that’s what it’s about, girls.” Lainey went on to straight-up call out the “folks that are sitting at home in your mama’s basement eating your Cheetos” who are “trying to pit women against each other,” saying they need to “find something better to do”: “I just want to say, find those people that lift you up and encourage you and pray for you, pray with you. Love on you, on the good days, on the bad days, all of it. And for the folks that are sitting at home in your mama’s basement eating your Cheetos, trying to pit women against each other, y’all need to find something better to do.”  Of course, this was more than warranted. If there’s one story that has constantly dominated the news cycle over the past year, it has undoubtedly been the ever-annoying “love triangle” forced upon the likes of Langley and Moroney in regards to Riley Green. Though there has been little evidence of either Langley and Green or Moroney and Green being in full-fledged relationships, and all have denied it outright, the trolls online have kept these rumors going way longer than they have any right to be. At the end of the day, it does come across as anonymous people online fanning flames of controversy to either a) get more attention on TikTok or b) further divide two incredibly successful women in the genre. We here at Whiskey Riff have certainly covered the topic, and on many occasions, tried to point out the obvious falsehoods among the all speculation, but it never seems to end. The other issue is that female artists tend to be subject to more comparison than their male counterparts. When these younger artists like Ella and Megan break out, it immediately generates competition and comparison, as if there isn’t room for both to be crushing it in country music. Content creators start pitting them against each other in polls or whatever, fans start choosing sides, rumors fly, and it’s all silly nonsense. In a recent interview with Bev Rainey on Country Nights Live, the Louisiana native revealed that the now iconic, “folks that are sitting at home in your mama’s basement eating your Cheetos” quote actually came from a recent conversation with the “weren’t for the wind” singer herself. “I honestly think that came from a few days prior. I was talking to Ella Langley on the phone, and she’s one of my dear friends. And she said something about, ‘I am so sick of people online trying to pit me and you against each other.’   And it kinda just came out… There were probably some people actually sitting in their mama’s basement, eating their Cheetos, listening to that, going, ‘Oh, she’s talking about me.'” PREACH. As mentioned earlier, it’s been exhausting enough as an outsider to have to read countless silly headlines, downright false claims perpetrated by AI, or watch wildly out-of-touch videos on TikTok, all trying to garner attention off the backs of these hard-working women in country music. Though the CMA Awards call-out won’t put a complete stop to the endless drama, it’s always great to see such a prominent female artists such as Wilson go up to bat for her fellow stars and call out those spreading misinformation. You truly love to see it. Watch the clip from the interview here: @withbevrainey Lainey Wilson told us about a convo she had with Ella Langley… And let’s just say the basement Cheeto eaters trying to pit women against women did not survive this one Full interview coming soon on Country Nights Live with Bev Rainey! #CountryNightsLive #LaineyWilson #EllaLangley #girlpower @Lainey Wilson @Ella Langley ♬ original sound – Country Nights Live Watch Lainey’s acceptance speech here: View this post on Instagram The post Lainey Wilson Reveals Fiery CMA Awards Speech Calling Out Internet Trolls Was Inspired By A Conversation With Ella Langley first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

What an incredible moment. Continue reading…

You LOVE to see it. The Nashville Fairgrounds were buzzing this morning as Tracy Lawrence held his 20th annual Mission:Possible Turkey Fry, benefiting the Nashville Rescue Mission and those in need in Middle Tennessee. But the day got off to a little bit of a rocky start when organizers showed up this morning and realized that a refrigerator truck had gone out overnight and ruined 650 turkeys. Tracy and his team had planned on frying up over 2,000 turkeys this year, with a goal of to feeding over 36,000 people in Middle Tennessee through the Nashville Rescue Mission, surrounding county school systems and boots on the ground community organizations who provide for those in need. But when 650 turkeys were ruined, they needed a little help from the Nashville community to make it happen. Earlier this morning, the group put out a call for help, asking those in the community to donate turkeys to help replace those that were lost. And boy did people step up quick. I stopped by the turkey fry this morning to talk to Tracy (it’s one of my favorite events every year), and there was a nonstop line of cars coming in to donate turkeys. It was so busy you never would have known that anything had gone wrong, and Tracy expressed his optimism that they would meet their goal and still be able to feed everybody who needs it in the community: “I think we’ve already got more and overabundant. I think we’re going to be fine… I think we have more than filled that void by the donations that everybody has brought out… I would imagine we’ll do about 2,500 turkeys today. I believe we’ll reach that number easily.” As it turns out, he was right. This afternoon, Tracy revealed that over 2,400 turkeys had been delivered to replace the 650 that were ruined, nearly quadrupling the number of people that they’ll be able to feed thanks the generosity of the community who stepped up to help. You love to see it. The country music community also stepped up to help, with artists like Tucker Wetmore and Meghan Patrick even showing up with turkey deliveries. And throughout the day, Jamey Johnson, John Schneider, Dustin Lynch, Rodney Atkins, Steve Wariner, Rhett Akins, Charles Esten and many more stopped by to drop turkeys in the fryers themselves. Along with the Turkey Fry, tonight is also the annual Mission:Possible benefit concert, which will take place at Luke Combs’ Category 10 bar in downtown Nashville. This year’s show will feature performances from Tracy, along with Gretchen Wilson, Eric Paslay, Chris Cagle and Halfway to Hazard.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Tracy Lawrence (@therealtracylawrence) Since Tracy founded Mission:Possible, the organization has fried over 10,000 turkeys, provided more than 86,000 meals to the homeless across Middle Tennessee, donated over $1 million to Nashville Rescue Mission, and raised nearly $3 million. But Tracy’s not planning on slowing down his efforts any time soon: “I think there’s still room for growth, there’s still room for improvement. We’ve increased our distribution pipeline tremendously. We have three trucks going out tomorrow, going to drop zones around 15, 16 counties around Nashville, a huge volume of them that will continue to go to the Nashville Rescue Mission, so we’re really trying to serve as many people as we can reach.” A great group of people coming together for a great cause.The post Nashville Community Steps Up BIG TIME & Donates Over 2,400 Turkeys To Tracy Lawrence’s Mission: Possible Turkey Fry After 650 Were Ruined By A Broken Truck first appeared on Whiskey Riff.