That’s one talented 17-year-old kid. His name is Titus Thornton, and you might want to get used to hearing it. He’s relatively unknown at the moment, but thanks to a viral video, the name is starting to get a lot of buzz online. The kid from Alabama is making waves thanks to his voice that holds a candle up to some of the greats of yesteryear. And some current neotraditional country music stars that have helped to bring back the old sound in the modern day. Thornton is a member of the FFA, and it’s his involvement in the Lauderdale County FFA String Band that has helped him gain traction in the past couple of months. The string band competed in the National FFA Convention’s talent contest for the second year in a row. Last year, they were semifinalists. This year? Brothers Ty and Conner McMeans, along with Titus Thornton, won the whole thing. They went with the song “Tennessee” by The Creekers for their performance, which helped them score first place, as Conner McMeans shared on his personal TikTok account: “Here’s our full performance that secured our 1st place spot at the National FFA Convention! Thank y’all for all the support and love y’all have shown us this week.” @connermcmeans Here’s our full performance that secured our 1st place spot at the National FFA Convention!! Thank yall for all the support and love yall have shown us this week!! @The Creekers @TitusThorntonMusic @Ty McMeans @TheMcMeansBrothers #FFA #FFANationalTalent #firstplace #bluegrass #singin ♬ original sound – Conner McMeans Pretty easy to see why they took home the top prize (which is actually a $250 cash and an invitation to guest judge the next year’s contest). Titus Thornton told the FFA that they really felt like the whole experience of the talent contest helped the Lauderdale County FFA String Band grow as performers and musicians: “I just think that it’s just bonded everybody so well, just being around all these great musicians and so many talented people. I think it’s been a great experience helping us be better members of the FFA, just being around great people and a great organization that put all this stuff together.” And I know what you are thinking… all they got was $250? Rest assured, they’ve gotten a lot of attention on social media too, which is worth a whole lot more than a couple of hundred dollars in cash. That TikTok above has been viewed nearly 2 million times, and Titus Thornton has also fired up a personal music page on Instagram and TikTok that people are flocking to. He’s most recently treated his followers to a beautiful cover of Keith Whitley’s “Miami, My Amy.” The song perfectly shows off the vocal talent of Titus, and it’s hard to believe that a voice like that is coming from a 17-year-old. Check it out: View this post on Instagram How impressive is that? That’s God-given talent, if I’ve ever seen it. I don’t know what Titus Thornton’s future plans are (I’m assuming something in farming with his FFA involvement), but he should really start looking into the whole playing-music for-a-living thing. From the small sample size the world has already been blessed with seeing, he’s got what it takes…The post 17-Year-Old Titus Thornton Goes Viral For Unbelievable Cover Of Keith Whitley’s “Miami, My Amy” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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Key plot points from Season 2 of Landman may feel familiar to Yellowstone fans. Too familiar? Continue reading…

Charlie Daniels’ breakthrough in the country music world may have only happened because a guitarist didn’t show up for a scheduled recording session. It’s funny how life works out like that sometimes, eh? You hear plenty of stories of artists and celebrities getting a lucky break, and that being the one thing they needed to get their foot in the door. That’s evidently how it played out for the late, great Charlie Daniels. As the story goes, folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was in Nashville to record his 1969 album Nashville Skyline. It was a departure from his regular sound (he went country before it was cool), and Dylan was attempting to adopt the Nashville style while he was in town for the recordings. That desire was accidentally (or fatefully?) fulfilled when Dylan’s normal guitarist was a no-show, and producer Bob Johnston called his good buddy Charlie Daniels in to fill in, as Charlie explained in an old interview: “Dylan’s regular guitarist wasn’t available that day, so Bob (Johnston), who was one of my dearest friends, had contacted me. I was only supposed to stay for one song, but as soon I finished, I was packing up to leave when Dylan asked Bob, ‘Where’s he going?’ and I wound up playing on the whole album.” That’s the truth. If you are to take a look at the Nashville Skyline album, Charlie Daniels is credited as playing the bass guitar and guitar on the project. He was not very well known at the time, so it was a huge opportunity for him. And as Daniels said, he only expected to be included for the one track. But as he was set to leave, Bob Dylan apparently said this: “I don’t want another guitar player. I want him.” Charlie Daniels could hardly believe it. He described hearing the rock icon say those words as life changing: “Those were the nine words that completely changed my life. That just about blew my mind when I heard that! It was incredible news to me.” And it brought an incredible lift to his career. Charlie had started out with a bluegrass group called the Misty Mountain Boys in the 1950s, and even wrote songs for Elvis Presley in the 1960s. It was a year or two after Daniels played on Bob Dylan’s record that the talented artist formed the Charlie Daniels Band (in 1970), which of course went on to craft the all-time song “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Though Charlie took off once the world discovered his immense talent, Daniels said it was Dylan giving him credits on his project that jumpstarted everything for him: “Dylan was very generous by listing musician credits on those albums I played on when I was still basically unknown, which really raised my profile to a lot of people.” That raised profile turned into his own band, which then went on impact the country music industry in a way that will undoubtedly stand the test of time. The world unfortunately lost Charlie Daniels back in 2020, when the legendary singer, songwriter, and musician passed away in 2020 from complications with a stroke. If you call yourself a fan of Daniels, and are longing to hear something from the artist that you may have missed, going back and listening for his guitar playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album is quite the treat. “Nashville Skyline Rag” The post Did You Know That Charlie Daniels Got His Big Break Playing On Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’ Album In 1969? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.