Poor Mark, he didn’t ask for this. That’s officially a wrap on Stagecoach for another year, and in the country music world, you could argue that is has been all the talk this past weekend. Midland was on hand Sunday to help cap off the festival, and they brought a number of surprise guests on stage with them. But one that nobody expected to see was Noah Cyrus, the daughter of country icon Billy Ray Cyrus, who has been busy making his own headlines lately with Elizabeth Hurley. Of course, the bigger surprise was Noah Cyrus’ completely see-through dress. Most definitely not on my Stagecoach bingo card… And as one person in the crow put it: “Watching Midland fight for his life trying to not look at Noah Cyrus’ tatas was NOT on my Stagecoach bingo card.” That was the exact caption of a viral TikTok video going around- showing the exact moment she strutted on to the main stage to perform “Put the Hurt on Me” with the band: @katvodabsolutely brutal♬ original sound – kat It’s already surprising to see her walk out of stage, but the cherry on top is that she came out basically naked. She was wearing a nipple-showing, barely-there sheer gown that instantly had every jaw in the crowd. And to be fair, the guy’s name is Mark Wystrach, he’s the lead singer of Midland (his name isn’t Midland), and while I won’t go to say that he was fighting for his life, I will say that he seemed to be keeping things professional. He’s married man with two young kids… and while it would be easy to play up into the sensuality of the song, Mark handled it like a pro. The video has garnered over half a million views already, but lots of people are defending Mark in the comment section: “LOL he’s married to THE Ty Haney, he only has eyes for her.” “His energy all night was a married man’s energy. I clocked it immediately & was so proud of him when he talked about his wife being there at the end.” “Is the fighting for his life in the room with us?” “He’s married. She’s engaged.” “I think he’s fighting for his life to harmonize with her because she’s all over the place” “Mr. Mark Wystrach loves his wife and is being professional” “Y’all can’t be serious? He’s an adult man… he doesn’t deserve an award for performing with a woman who … has boobs?” My thoughts exactly… didn’t really see the “fighting for his life” at all. They also perform in relative dark lighting, with lots of moody colors, so it’s hard to tell what kind of dress she is even wearing unless you’re looking for it. This was definitely not the first post we saw about her memorable outfit, two guys posted about it, with their hands covering their eyes: @cadenedwardsWas not expecting that ♬ original sound – Caden Edwards This also wasn’t the only surprise guest-their full Stagecoach set was a full-on party. Along with Noah, they brought out Tracy Lawrence, Marcus King, MacKenzie Carpenter, and Luke Wilson, making their Sunday night one of the most stacked sets of the weekend. Their sound is exactly what the lineup needed to keep that classic country vibe. A giant singalong to “Drinkin’ Problem” never hurt anyone. You can watch Midland’s full set below (Noah comes in around the 35-minute mark): The post Noah Cyrus Dons See-Through Dress To Surprise Stagecoach Crowd For Midland’s “Put The Hurt On Me” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Alan Jackson's grandsons got to see what the singer does for a living for the very first time. Continue reading…

Noah Cyrus was one of Midland's surprise guests at Stagecoach. Continue reading…

It was a wild several months for Eric Church in 2017. He experienced the horror of losing 58 fans in the Route 91 Harvest music festival, then experienced a life-threatening blood clot, and then he lost his brother, Brandon, the following year in 2018. All of that happened in less than a year. And during this week’s Sunday Sitdown interview with Willie Geist, Eric opened up about how those experiences shaped him ahead of the release of his new album this Friday, Evangeline vs. The Machine. From the devastating results of Hurricane Helene in his home state, to how he came up with his signature look of wearing sunglasses during his concerts, the art of piecing together an album over singles in the age of social media, and TikTok in the particular, they covered a lot of ground and it’s always interesting to get his takes on the music business. In terms of Hurricane Helene and the benefit concert he put together with fellow North Carolinian Luke Combs, Eric says the mountains are his home and he had to help. He’s also in the process of building a neighborhood in Avery county for those who lost everything: “The mountains of North Carolina to me have been so important creatively, that’s home to me. and the biggest thing to me with that song was, I want to keep the focus on people in North Carolina, people in the mountains there. It’s gonna be years. Years and years and years.” But when it comes to the aforementioned life-changing events that happened within a span of months several years ago now, Eric said it had a profound effect on his music, and obviously, his perspective on life in general: “The relationship between the artist and the fans, in that moment in time, is sacred. And those bullets shattered that. Right after that, I had a health scare, I had a blood clot, and thought I was gonna die. And then my brother died. So all this happened within a matter of months. And I think up until that point, you can listen to music maybe, and you can see that I was brash, arrogant in a lot of ways, but it changes when you have those things happen to you. I think it made the music more humble, and maybe more observant.” I can’t imagine three more horrific things to go through in such a short amount of time, and if that doesn’t change everything in a profound way, you’re probably not human… but he managed to use his music to heal in some ways and I think that’s the magic of being an artist of his caliber who isn’t afraid to take risks and go against the grain of even what he normally puts out. This new project has tons of horns, and even a choir, so it’s going to be vastly different than anything we’ve ever heard from him before, and I think certainly speaks to everything he’s been through both recently and throughout the course of his life. In one of the lighter moments of the interview, Eric joked about when he first arrived in Nashville and how he thought he was doing everyone there a favor… which is actually a healthy perspective because in his case, it was true… though that didn’t mean it was any easier for him to get and big breaks: “I expected to go into Nashville and go, ‘You’re welcome. I’m here to save you guys.’ They didn’t like my songs, they didn’t like my voice, they didn’t’ like my writing. They didn’t like… even the bartending didn’t work.” Now, he owns a bar on Lower Broadway called Chief’s, which has to feel satisfying after all the years he spent just trying to get a gig there. You can watch part of the interview here: Evangeline vs. The Machine tracklist: 1. Hands Of Time (Eric Church, Scooter Carusoe) 2. Bleed On Paper (Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell) 3. Johnny (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Brett Warren) 4. Storm In Their Blood (Eric Church) 5. Darkest Hour (Eric Church) 6. Evangeline (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean) 7. Rocket’s White Lincoln (Eric Church) 8. Clap Hands (Tom Waits) “Hands Of Time” The post “It Made The Music More Humble” – Eric Church On How A Serious Health Scare, The Las Vegas Shooting & Losing His Brother Changed Everything first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

After wrapping his own headlining set at Stagecoach, Luke Combs hit the late-night stage for a party with the Backstreet Boys. Continue reading…