Loretta Lynn made a career out of saying things no one else would. She wrote her songs based on real life experience, and she certainly never held back in speaking the honest truth… which sometimes got her in trouble, though it was a risk she was willing to take. From songs like “The Pill” to one of her most controversial songs “Rated X,” she had a knack for authenticity and saying something that might be unpopular, regardless of the consequences, and that’s what so many of us loved and respected about her. “Rated X” was included on her 1973 Entertainer of the Year album (which she subsequently released after becoming the first female to win Entertainer of the Year in 1972). It would eventually become her sixth #1 country single as a solo artist., A solo write from Loretta, it was released on this date in 1972, though the song didn’t initially sit well with a lot of radio station managers at the time because she addressed divorce and the double standards that men and women faced at the time in a way that was so honest it made people uncomfortable. A lot of them even banned it before they even heard it just because of the title alone. After it started picking up steam and they realized people actually wanted to hear the track, that quickly changed as it shot up the charts.Now, keep in mind this was in the early ’70s, it wasn’t all that common to hear topics like that on the radio at all, especially from a woman’s perspective, and Loretta knew that: “I think it was because, you know, you’re – been a married woman. I think when you write about it, they take it to heart, too, you know, they – people do. So I think that was it. It just starts out, if you’ve been a married woman, things didn’t seem to work out, divorce is the key to being loose and free. So you’re going to be talked about. So that’s exactly how it is, you know?” But of course, none of that crap stopped her from speaking her mind, and she really held nothing back in terms of her feelings about those societal expectations and standards: “And if you’re rated X you’re some kind of goal Even men turnin’ silver try to make But I think it’s wrong to judge every picture If a cheap camera makes a mistake And when your best friend’s husband says to you You’ve sure started lookin’ good You should’ve known he would And he would if he could And he will if you’re rated X.” Ironically though, Loretta has never been divorced, and was married to her husband, Doolittle, until he passed away in 1996. Though they had a famously tumultuous marriage, it’s pretty impressive that she could write such a spot-on, honest song about what it was like to be a divorced woman having never experienced it for herself. Of course, that’s the kind of stuff that made her a legend. It’s funny to think back about how controversial a song like that was at the time compared to what you hear on the radio these days, Loretta always felt that it fit right along with all her other classic tunes: “You know, another old, dirty record from Loretta Lynn.” She will forever be a queen…  The post Loretta Lynn Made History With Her Controversial 1972 Song “Rated X,” Which Was Initially Banned On Country Radio first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

You won’t catch Isaac Gibson and the rest of 49 Winchester performing pre-show rituals before a concert. Isaac of 49 Winchester stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk to us about how many years it took for 49 Winchester to go “full time,” the story of how Luke Combs bought a t-shirt from their website, the inaugural 49 Winchester show being the first time anyone ever heard him sing live, how their band name came to be, hunting trips that he’s gotten to go on because of his music career and much more. The frontman for 49 Winchester also touched on his approach to the pre-show, and how he handles the entire process leading up to a concert. Gibson admitted that no matter what the show is, or how big the audience, he gets nervous on show days. It’s not a bad thing… he just truly cares about the product that they are putting out there, and wants the fans in the crowd to have a hell of a time seeing 49 Winchester. That can be a lot of pressure, but Isaac says it doesn’t lead him to do anything too special on the days of their concerts: “I don’t really have a routine. Not even like pre-show, like the 15 minutes before the show or anything like that. It’s always just kind of laid back. Everybody kind of understands that’s everybody’s nervous. We’ve been together for 12 years, so we all just kind of know each other’s personality and demeanor and we see when it kind of shifts down into, ‘Oh s**t, we’re about to hit that next gear.’ Then you get out on stage, and it all kind of melts away and you get into that familiar space.” Gibson says that any sort of nerves he feels takes a backseat to the adrenaline rush of going out on stage. And he’s not alone in not having a pre-show routine or ritual. We asked if the band does anything as a group before they head out to put on one of their patented, rocking, rowdy shows, and Gibson said that 49 Winchester’s pre-show ritual is… nothing really at all. Other than a couple of high fives and words of encouragement, the band just knows what they are there to do, and they walk out on stage and take care of business. And not needing a pre-show routine is birthed from the fact that 49 Winchester is such a tight-knit unit: “No, not really. A lot of bands do. I’ve always thought it was cool. But it’s just not anything we’ve ever implemented. We spend so much time together, and we’ve spent so much time together over the last decade plus that we’re just kind of locked in. We all understand what we have to do, and we all understand what’s at stake, and we all understand that our goal every night when we go out is to play the best show that we can possibly play. And leave absolutely nothing in the tank. I think that’s what makes our live show great. But in terms of that pre-show ritual, not really (much) for us. A lot of times it’s just dapping the boys up like, ‘Y’all ready? Let’s get ’em’ kind of thing. Nothing like stand on our head and take a shot of Jack or anything like that.” @whiskeyriff Check out the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast. @49 Winchester #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff Hey, no need to put a pre-show routine in motion if the way things have been done for years is working just fine. Isaac Gibson and the rest of 49 Winchester are already on the same wave length, and there’s nothing they can do in the minutes leading up to the show to get in sync any more than they already are. Pretty impressive, if you ask me. Download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here. We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts. Cheers, y’all. Audio Video The post 49 Winchester Reveals Why They Don’t Bother With Pre-Show Routines Or Rituals first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Kenny Chesney's tribute and Riley Green's new love interest are just two things that require a bit more explaining. Continue reading…

A whole lot of hardware for a single song. Last night at the 59th CMA Awards, the stars aligned for for Ella Langley. In addition to a killer performance of her current surging single, “Choosin’ Texas,” which is currently sitting at #5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, the Alabama native took home not one but three awards for her 2024 smash hit with Riley Green, “you look like you love me.” The track would win Single and Song of the Year as well as Music Video of the Year, sweeping its three eligible categories and becoming the first song in the history of the CMA Awards to take home all three awards on a single night. In many ways, “you like you love me” has simply been the gift that keeps on giving for Langley and Green. Beyond its massive streaming numbers (267 million on Spotify alone), it’s been one of the most-played songs on Billboard’s new TouchTunes Frontline chart, peaking at #6 throughout the second quarter of 2025. Couple all those accolades with a 2x platinum certification from the RIAA and a #1 spot on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart last December, and you have yourself one of the most successful songs of the past few years. “Just how successful has ‘you look like you love me’ been for the powerhouse duo?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Taking a look at its final run in terms of award-season eligibility, it finished with a staggering seven separate wins across the ACM and CMA Awards. They notched their first win last year at the 58th CMA Awards when the track won its only nomination of the night for Musical Event of the Year. Fast forward a few months to the 2025 ACM Awards, and the floodgates began to open. On a huge night for Langley that included a win for New Female Artist of the Year, she also struck gold with “you look like you love me” once again. Scoring wins for Visual Media, Music Event and Single of the Year, the only category the massive track failed to win was Song of the Year, which went to Cody Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap.” Finally, as previously mentioned, it completed the rare Single/Song of the Year sweep and joined the likes of Brooks & Dunns’ “Believe,” Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse” and Randy Travis’ “Forever And Ever, Amen” as one of the few songs in the history of the CMA Awards to win both in a single year last night at the CMA Awards. There can be full-length thesis papers done on the massive virality and overall impact that the track has had on both Green and Langley in particular, but one of the most interesting thing to note about it, all seven awards and all, is the simple fact that neither of the two superstars actually thought the song would see the light of day, let alone the success its experienced over the past 18 months. For Langley, she would reveal that the song was never even supposed to be recorded, originally being written as a joke with co-writer, Aaron Ratier in an appearance on The Bobby Bones Show back in September 2024. “The song was never supposed to leave my audio recordings. I wrote it as a joke with Aaron Ratier first, and then the label heard it and loved it and then Riley asked us on tour. And him and I just kind of being from the same area, growing up on the same kind of music, I was thinking maybe we could do it out on the road. That’s why I asked him to do it, and I was like, ‘Hey, just kind of write the second verse how you would respond to a girl coming up to you like that.'” As for Green, he also had his doubts about the song, at least from a commerical perspective. In an interview with Zach Sang, he’d note that he thought the song was much too traditional to have success on the radio nowadays. He’d also reveal that he thought it was going to be nothing more than a song the pair performed out on the road together “I didn’t think it was a hit because I thought talking verses were way too traditional to work. But I thought, ‘Well, it would be cool to have a song that we could do together on the road… I thought it was fun; I thought it was something that kind of stayed in your head a little bit. But again, [it] just goes to show you I don’t know because I had no idea it would be the big hit that it was.” A full list of awards won by “you look like you love me” includes the following: 2024 CMA Music Event of the Year 2025 ACM Single of the Year 2025 ACM Visual Media of the Year 2025 ACM Music Event of the Year 2025 CMA Single of the Year 2025 CMA Song of the Year 2025 CMA Music Video of the Year “you look like you love me” Riley Green Tour Dates November 20th, 2025 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena ~/ November 21st, 2025 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center #~/ November 22nd, 2025 – Little Rock, AR – Simmons Bank Arena#^$ December 12th, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Resorts World December 13th, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Resorts World May 30th, 2026 – Panama City Beach, FL – Gulf Coast Jam % @Vincent Mason #Jamey Johnson ~Drake White $Lauren Watkins -Preston Cooper ?Mike Ryan Josh Ross /Hannah McFarland ^Dustin Lynch %Festival dateThe post Ella Langley & Riley Green’s “You Look Like You Love Me” Finishes Its Award-Season Run With A Staggering Seven Wins Across the ACM & CMA Awards first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Subtle flex to say that you’ll start making country music eventually… right after you take home an award at the CMAs. Last night, country music fans were finally able to rejoice, as The Red Clay Strays took home the “Vocal Group of the Year” trophy at the 2025 CMA Awards. If you are an avid reader of Whiskey Riff, you might have caught my story from earlier this week where I said that the CMAs should be canceled altogether if they gave Old Dominion the award over The Red Clay Strays. Needless to say, I was very happy with the results of the awards show. Finally, the CMA Awards gave the Red Clay Strays their “we’re here” moment. Not only did they take home the award they were nominated for, the band – consisting of Drew Nix (electric guitar, vocals, harmonica), Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass), John Hall (drums), Sevans Henderson (keys), and frontman Brandon Coleman – also gifted viewers and those in attendance with an impassioned performance of their latest hit single “People Hatin’.” And there’s a good chance that their performance acted as an introduction to the band for many, as crazy as that might sound. Especially considering they’ve already put out back-to-back musical masterpieces with their debut album, Moment of Truth, in 2022 and their Made By These Moments follow up in 2024. There’s another album on the way in 2026, so new and old fans of The Red Clay Strays alike have a lot to look forward to. But to stick with their big win at the CMA Awards for just a moment, it was very interesting to hear what Coleman had to say in the band’s time with the media post-awards. Once again, the frontman of the Red Clay Strays stated that he and the band don’t really see themselves as a country music group, but that they very much appreciate the genre, and plan on exploring more into it in the future: “We’re very thankful for it. We were a lot of different genres when we started playing together. John was more hard rock, Andrew was more funk and blues, Zach was more rock, Sevans was more jazz, and I was more country. I was the hick of the group. So country music has a very special place in my heart, and that’s the reason I always say we don’t really play country music, because when we get ready to make an actual country record, it’ll be country music. Because I think country music deserves to be recognized as a genre, so if you’re just playing rock n’ roll music, but calling it country music, I think that’s doing country a disservice. So that’s why I always say that. But we are all country boys and we’re Southern gentlemen, so we’re very happy to be accepted by the community – and we’ll eventually make some actual country music, too.” That’s both hilarious and exciting to hear. Most would already conclude that they are doing country music – or at least southern rock – quite well. If The Red Clay Strays don’t even think they are in the country sphere right now, I can’t wait to hear what they come up with when they “eventually make some.” And before anyone gets upset about that quote… cool it. That’s a very respectful and responsible answer from Brandon Coleman, and it even addresses those critics who say what they are doing isn’t country. I don’t know about you, but I’d much prefer to listen to the non-country styling of The Red Clay Strays than the non-country crap that’s played on country radio all the time. Anyways, here’s a video of The Red Clays Strays not playing country music at the CMA Awards: The Red Clay Strays – “People Hatin'” | Live at the CMA Awards 2025 The post The Red Clay Strays Say They’ll “Eventually Make Some Actual Country Music” After Winning Vocal Group Of The Year At 2025 CMA Awards first appeared on Whiskey Riff.