One wasn’t enough. It seems like the rest of the world is finally waking up to what we’ve been preaching for a couple of years now: The Red Clay Strays are one of the best groups in country music. It’s been a seemingly meteoric rise for the group from Mobile, Alabama, since releasing their debut album, Moment of Truth, in 2022. The album contained their smash hit, “Wondering Why,” which has since gone viral on TikTok, and the very next year the band found themselves opening for Eric Church on his Outsiders Revival Tour. The group has exploded up the ranks in the alt. country scene, and for good reason. Between frontman Brandon Coleman’s killer vocals, the flawless blend of country and southern rock influences and the sheer musical talent present from each of the five members, the Alabama band has proven themselves as one of the best in the business over the past three years. If you talk to the guys, you’ll realize quickly why they’re so special: They’re a group of normal dudes who just love making music together. It’s been a well-deserved breakout year for the band. Over the summer they made their headlining debut at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, performing three sold-out shows in Morrison, Colorado, and just announced a headlining show at Madison Square Garden, a bucket list venue for any artist. Then a couple of weeks ago, the band had their mainstream breakout moment when they won Vocal Group of the Year at the 2025 CMA Awards while turning heads with a killer performance of their latest single, “People Hatin’.” It’s safe to say the Red Clay Strays will be one of the hottest tickets in country music in 2025. In fact, the CMA Awards won’t be the only time they’ll be at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville next year, because the band recently announced a headlining show at Bridgestone on October 22, 2026, joined by special guests Sierra Ferrell and Brent Cobb. The show was announced last month, and tickets went quick. So quick, in fact, that they’re adding another date. This morning, the Red Clay Strays announced that they’ll be playing a SECOND night at Bridgestone, on October 23rd, 2026. They’ll once again be joined by Brent Cobb and Sierra Ferrell, and tickets go on sale here Wednesday, December 4 at 10 AM central. We already know that the band also has new music on the way in 2026, after Joe Rogan accidentally let it slip on his podcast while speaking to the the guys on a recent episode. They said at the time that they’re hoping it will be released next summer, so if that happens, folks at Bridgestone will likely have one of the first opportunities to hear the new music live. We’ve already seen that the sky’s the limit for the Red Clay Strays. It’s been fun to see them take off and become household names like they have, mainly because they deserve it in every way possible. If you weren’t able to get tickets to the first Bridgestone show, you’re not going to want to miss out on the second night.The post Red Clay Strays Announce Second Show At Bridgestone Arena In Nashville After Overwhelming Demand first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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The kind of story you really can’t make up. Craig Morgan spent 17 years in the Army and Army Reserve, serving the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions as an E-6 Staff Sergeant and Fire Support Specialist. Since then, he’s remained an avid supporter of all of our service members. In 2023, Morgan publicly announced he would continue his service to our nation by re-enlisting in the US Army Reserve, where he’ll be assigned to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as a Staff Sergeant and Warrant Officer candidate. When Morgan first enlisted, he was only 18 years old, and he became an emergency medical technician, which required extensive training to prepare you for battle scenarios and more. While Morgan was stationed in South Korea in the 1980s, he spent some time at Korean Ranger School, which put the soldiers through very intense scenarios, including a prisoner of war simulation. During a recent sit-down on Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Bunnie asked Morgan to recall a story he previously told on Tracy Lawrence’s TL’s Roadhouse podcast, where he shared he once ate a live chicken while stationed in South Korea. “In the Korean Ranger School, there’s a two-week portion of that nine-week course, I think actually ten days, where you go through a POW encampment scenario. So you’ve basically been captured, and they place you in the camp, and your objective is to escape from the POW camp. That’s what you’re told. And all you know, you don’t know anything except the experience you’re encountering right then, and you have a location as to your safe house, the place you’re trying to get to. So if you do get outside of the camp, you’ve got to get to there. But what you don’t know is all these little communities that you’re running through, all of those local Korean people are paid good money if they turn you in. So if they see someone from the camp, I mean, they’re literally… They do patrols to look for people that are trying to get out of the camp so they can get rewarded. And we escaped, myself, two other Americans…one other American and two KATUSAs, which weren’t Korean Army, they were, they’re what they call Korean Augmentation to the United States Army.” Morgan then explains to Bunnie Xo what a KATUSA is and how they support the United States Army. For those not familiar with the term, KATUSA stands for Korean Augmentation to the United States Army, and it consists of South Korean enlisted soldiers assigned to and serving within the Eighth United States Army. While this program began during the Korean War to augment US forces, it has continued as a permanent program since then. Morgan also explains that while he was in Korean Ranger School, KATUSAs also underwent US Army training and programs, which helped foster international relationships. He continues: “But we escaped, and we got out. Well, we’re running, we literally weren’t 200 yards from the little encampment, and we realized at this point that people were following us and they were trying to turn us in. So I told them, ‘We can’t stop.’ And it was about two miles from where we were. Now, mind you, we probably hadn’t eaten in four or five days. The only thing we had eaten was bugs that we caught and rice that grew up through the pins that we were being kept in. Anything that flew in there died. I can’t even tell you the kind of stuff that I ate. And I can tell you, it seemed like it tasted good. I just remember it tasting good.” Morgan then says that we were forced to do two hours of workouts in the mornings and evenings, which made them hungrier and led them to what some might deem the unthinkable once they had escaped the POW modulation. “We’re running through, and we come across these chickens, and one of KATUSAs yanked the chicken up. He grabbed it, and we just kept running, and while we were running, he was plucking this chicken, and he would hand it over to each of us. We were trying to get this chicken, and finally one of ’em got its neck rung. But I promise you, before that chicken’s heart stopped beating, we were all taking chews out of it. Eating on it, that’s how hungry…and it was good.”  Gnarly… I mean, it sounds unbelievable, but if you were on a day for our five of no real food, I can imagine many others would be desperate for some sustenance, and that poor chicken was the prey that day. Is eating a live chicken as risky as eating raw chicken? Something tells me it’s safer but I really have no idea… I have a feeling this is just one of many wild stories Morgan has from this experience, given they were trying to hide from locals as well while heading to their safe house. The story starts at the 14-minute mark. Check it out: The post Craig Morgan Recalls Eating A Live Chicken While Military Training With Korean Rangers: “We Were All Taking Chews Out Of It” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

There’s just something about a good, country music Christmas song. We’ve now reached the part of the calendar where it’s very much acceptable to listen to Christmas music. I hope you didn’t dive in too early, because you may have negatively affected your health if you did so (that’s according to a psychologist, not me). Christmas music has a way of getting us all in the jolly, holiday spirit. Listening to songs that sing about Santa, reindeer, gifts under the tree, and whatever else that’s associated with Christmas can be a much needed pick-me-up during this time of the year where you spend a lot of time with your family and it gets dark before 5 o’clock at night. But country music fans might not care for the pop or traditional Christmas music offerings that are generally played in stores and on the radio this time of the year. There’s a good chance that country music fans want to keep things country, even when it’s time to break out the holiday tunes. Luckily for them, some of the greatest country music artists in the world have kept that group of people in mind. There’s a musical smorgasbord of country Christmas songs out there, and just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two countrified-Christmas-songs are the same. Whether it be an original Christmas song, or a traditional one that’s given a country spin, there’s some holiday music out there for every country fan. Everyone can agree on that. The only thing that could stir up some disagreement is asking country music fanatics to choose the best country Christmas song of all time. We here at Whiskey Riff actually did that recently, and sent out this question on all social media platforms: View this post on Instagram That’s a tough one. Just like anything else, it can be hard to narrow down a favorite. There are so many great songs and phenomenal artists to choose from. But if you had to name one, it’d probably match up with one of these on the list below. Here’s how country music fans responded to our Christmas inquiry: “‘Merry Christmas from the Family’ by Robert Earl Keene.” “Alabama’s ‘Christmas in Dixie.'” “‘Let It Be Christmas’ by Alan Jackson.” “Koe Wetzel’s version of ‘Please Come Home For Christmas.'” “‘Hard Candy Christmas’ by Dolly Parton.” “‘For You For Christmas’ by Zach Top.” “‘Pretty Paper’ by Willie Nelson.” “‘Looking for Christmas’ by Clint Black.” “‘All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan’ by Kenny Chesney.” “‘When It’s Christmastime in Texas’ by George Strait.” “It’s hard to beat ‘If We Make It Through December’ by Merle.” Shoutout our own Brennen Kelly for that last one… an excellent choice. What would I go with? First of all, thank you for asking. That means a lot. Though I’m tempted to side with my co-worker and say Merle Haggard’s classic Christmas song is the best, I’d actually go with this little tune from the great Randy Travis: “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe” I never get tired of that one. If you liked that list, then make sure to check out Whiskey Riff’s “Country Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck” playlist. It’s the perfect companion to your holiday party… if you want to make your Christmas country. And who doesn’t want to do that? Apple Music Spotify The post Country Music Fans Sound Off On Their Favorite Country Christmas Songs first appeared on Whiskey Riff.