Yes, please. As we sit in today, it’s pretty clear that the “big three” in country music are Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and Zach Bryan. While Bryan, despite being at superstar status for the better part of three years at this point, is still an outlier due to his distance from Nashville and the industry at large, Combs and Wallen have firmly planted themselves as the two heaviest hitters in the genre for the better part of the decade. Of course, this can be reflected by both their monster streaming numbers and chart success as well as their massive tours set for 2026. For Combs, in particular, it’s looking to be a huge year. Recently, he announced that his sixth studio album, The Way I Am, is set for release on March 30th. Produced by Combs, Singleton and Chip Matthews, the record will feature a whopping 22 songs, which is the most for a standard edition album in his career. Beyond the massive album, Combs is also planning his biggest set of tour dates to date, the sprawling, international My Kinda Saturday Night Tour. Covering two continents, eight countries and including 20 shows, the tour features stops across iconic stadiums across the nation, including the likes of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, and Wembley Stadium in London, U.K. In addition to the huge stadiums across the country, the “Hurricane” singer is also bringing along a star-studded cast, including the likes of Dierks Bentley, Thomas Rhett, Ty Myers, The Castellows, Thelma & James and The Script. Though Combs is embarking on what can only be described as a career-defining tour, it hasn’t stopped him from reminiscing about the past. On Sunday, he’d upload a never-before-seen photo of his first-ever show at Parthenon Cafe in Boone, North Carolina, all the way back in 2012. “My first ever show was 14 years ago tomorrow at Parthenon Cafe in Boone, NC. It doesn’t seem that long ago but I guess time flies when you’re having fun!” View this post on Instagram Yesterday, on the 14th anniversary of his aforementioned first show, Combs continued the theme of remiscing at his appearance at City Winery in Nashville. After performing multiple songs, including the first-ever live rendition of his new song, “Sleepless in a Hotel Room,” Combs would sit down for an interview with NBC’s Sunday Today host, Willie Geist, for a taping of his “Sunday Sitdown” interview series. Though the interview in its entirety will air at a later date, TikTok user, Nashville Experience, captured some footage from the crowd. @nashvillexp A free @Luke Combs show in a small SEC town venue sounds like my kinda Saturday night #Nashville #615 #LukeCombs #Country #SEC ♬ original sound – Nashville Experience During the interview, Combs would discuss his dream tour: a free set of shows at all the small, SEC bars that he cut his teeth at early in his career. “I dream of doing like an entire tour of just venues I used to play, like 20-some shows of all the little SEC town bars.” Combs would then go on to list his dream lineup, which consists of Brickstreet in Oxford, Ohio, Tin Roof in Columbia, South Carolina, Georgia Theater in Athens, Georgia, and 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia. He’d also joke that he wants to simply do the entirety of South Carolina as a whole. I’m sure he’s stop back in Boone, North Carolina, for an alma mater show at Appalachian State University. Additionally, part of this dream tour would center around the fact that all the tickets would be absolutely free on a first-come, first-serve basis: “Free tickets. Just first-come, first-serve.” Realistically, the likelihood of this coming to fruition for an artist as big as Combs seems pretty unlikely. With that being said, however, we’ve seen giants such as Eric Church perform at much smaller venues such as his Nashville bar, Chiefs. Garth Brooks did a “Dive Bar Tour” a few years back, so Combs returning to his early days on a limited tour is not entirely out of the realm of possibility. It would undoubtedly make for the most unique and intimate show experiences from the “Beautiful Crazy” singer in quite a long time. My Kinda Saturday Night Tour Dates March 21 Allegiant Stadium – Las Vegas, NV April 4 Scott Stadium – Charlottesville, VA April 11 Jack Trice Stadium – Ames, IA April 18 Notre Dame Stadium – South Bend, IN April 25 Ohio Stadium – Columbus, OH May 2 Neyland Stadium – Knoxville, TN May 9 Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium – Norman, OK May 15 Lambeau Field – Green Bay, WI May 16 Lambeau Field – Green Bay, WI May 30 Parc Jean-Drapeau – Montreal, QC June 5 Rogers Stadium – Toronto, ON June 6 Rogers Stadium – Toronto, ON July 4 Ullevi – Gothenburg, Sweden July 7 Accor Arena – Paris, France July 11 Johan Cruijff ArenA – Amsterdam, Netherlands July 18 Slane Castle – Slane, Ireland July 19 Slane Castle – Slane, Ireland July 25 Scottish Gas Murrayfield – Edinburgh, UK July 31 Wembley Stadium – London, UK August 1 Wembley Stadium – London, UK The post “All The Little SEC Towns”: Luke Combs Outlines His Dream To Play A College Bar Tour… For FREE first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A pretty shocking revelation. It’s hard to understate just how much of a force to be reckoned with Chris Stapleton has become throughout his music career. With 11 Grammys, 19 CMA Awards, 11 ACM Awards and a plethora of other hardware from the likes of Billboard, the Americana Music Association, ASCAP and more, the Kentucky native is arguably the biggest and most critically-acclaimed country artist this century. Among all the awards, last week, Stapleton made history as the only artist to capture a double-diamond song from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as his cover of David Allan Coe’s “Tennessee Whiskey” officially sold over 20 million units in the U.S. Of course, there’s so much to talk about when discussing Stapleton’s career as a whole. From his iconic breakout during the 2015 CMA Awards that signaled the death of bro-country, to his laundry list of hits, to his long history as a songwriter in Nashville before his fame as a solo artist, the Chris Stapleton lore runs incredibly deep. Though I’d say it’s fairly common knowledge for hardcore Stapleton fans (and dedicated country fans in general), one piece of information that is oftentimes overlooked is the fact that he was a prominent member of The SteelDrivers. In case you’re not familiar with The SteelDrivers, they’re a Nashville-based bluegrass band founded back in 2005 by Mike Henderson. In the early days of the band, it was comprised of Henderson on mandolin, Stapleton himself as lead vocals/guitar, Tammy Rogers on fiddle, Richard Bailey on banjo and Mike Fleming on bass. It’s hard to truly overstate just how much success they had right out of the gate. In addition to scoring early hits with the likes of “If It Hadn’t Been For Love,” “Heaven Sent” and “Where Rainbows Never Die,” The SteelDrivers would also receive multiple Grammy nominations within their first few years as a band, with “Blue Side of the Mountain” receiving a nod for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2009 and Reckless receiving a nod for Best Bluegrass Album in 2011. As we know by now, Stapleton ended up leaving the band in 2010. At the time, it was reported that he departed in favor of focusing on raising his kids in addition to his incredibly successful songwriting career at the time. In turn, he was replaced by Gary Nichols, who performed with the band from 2010 to 2017. If you’ve paid close attention to the “Starting Over” singer over the past decade or so, however, it became quite apparent that he’s rarely spoken about his time with the band. While it would have been a bit reckless to say that there was bad blood between Stapleton and the group, there always seemed to be an air of uncertainty surrounding the exact reason for his departure. As it turns out, the reason for Stapleton’s departure from The SteelDrivers was actually MUCH different than originally stated back in 2010. In a recent appearance on the podcast, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, the Kentucky native dove into the strange argument that ultimately led to him leaving. As Stapleton described, one of the original members of the band, whom he wouldn’t name, developed a fear of flying at some point during his tenure, which seemingly led to disagreements over the direction of the band. “One of the guys in the band developed a fear of flying, and I had an opinion about what we needed to do. And everybody else in the band had a different opinion, so they got somebody else.” Shepard would then ask Stapleton if he was fired and/or kicked out of the band, and the “White Horse” singer didn’t deny it: “Technically, yes. I probably shouldn’t be saying that on here, but that’s technically the truth.” When asked if he was hurt by the firing, Stapleton would ultimately say yes. However, he seems to allude to the fact that he believed that they weren’t setting themselves up for the success he believed they could have had. “Well, sure, but I also didn’t believe that we were [setting the right course]. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’ll do something else.'” Though Stapleton keeps this entire situation a bit vague, when you read between the lines, it seems as if he wanted the band to stay the course and become much bigger than they ultimately have been over the past decades. What’s fascinating is that this is the first confirmation we’ve gotten that he was outright fired from the band, which is obviously a huge departure from the original reports of him leaving the band due to his family and songwriting career. As of now, none of the original members of The SteelDrivers have commented on Stapleton’s newest revelations about his final days in the band. Watch the full podcast here: All-American Road Show Tour Dates May 23 – Nashville, Tennessee – Nissan Stadium with Lainey Wilson & Allen Stone June 11 – Jacksonville, Florida – Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena with Allen Stone June 13 – Tampa, Florida – Raymond James Stadium with Lainey Wilson & Allen Stone June 17 – Burgettstown, Pennsylvania – The Pavilion at Star Lake with Allen Stone June 20 – Charlotte, North Carolina – Bank of America Stadium with Lainey Wilson & Allen Stone June 24 – Hershey, Pennsylvania – Hersheypark Stadium with Grace Potter June 26 – North Charleston, South Carolina – North Charleston Coliseum with Grace Potter July 8 – Mountain View, California – Shoreline Amphitheater with Molly Tuttle July 10 – Chula Vista, California – North Island Credit Union Amphitheater with Molly Tuttle July 17 – Portland, Oregon – Providence Park with Grace Potter July 22 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Rogers Arena with The Teskey Brothers July 24 – George, Washington – The Gorge with Grace Potter July 29 – Shakopee, Minnesota – Mystic Lake Amphitheater  with Allen Stone August 1 – Cincinnati, Ohio – Paycor Stadium with Lainey Wilson & Allen Stone August 6 – Toronto, Ontario – Rogers Stadium with Zach Top & Allen Stone August 8 – Detroit, Michigan – Ford Field with Lainey Wilson & Allen Stone August 14 – Boston, Massachusetts – Fenway Park with Zach Top & Allen Stone August 18 – Virginia Beach, Virginia – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater with Maggie Rose August 21 – Atlanta, Georgia – Mercedes-Benz Stadium with Lainey Wilson & Ashley McBryde August 26 – Wantagh, New York – Northwell at Jones Beach Theater with Carter Faith August 28 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion with Carter Faith October 2 – Bristow, Virginia – Jiffy Lube Live with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs October 7 – Lincoln, Nebraska – Pinnacle Bank Arena with Nikki Lane October 9 – Kansas City, Missouri – Morton Amphitheater with Nikki LaneThe post “Technically Kicked Out”: Chris Stapleton Reveals The Real Reason He Left The SteelDrivers first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A happy ending after all. (No pun intended if you’re familiar with Lee Brice‘s 2007 single “Happy Endings”). Brice shared good news with fans this morning after putting out the call for help yesterday from the Nashville community to find his missing – and pregnant – dog, Charlee. According to Brice, Charlee “slipped away from home,” and since then he had been on a desperate search to find their missing dog. “We’ve searched every back road, called every shelter, and prayed harder than we ever have.” Brice didn’t share the exact location that she went missing from, but said that by now she could be pretty much anywhere in the greater Nashville area: “She could be anywhere in or around the Nashville area… by now she could be anywhere from way south of Franklin, to past Dickson west of town, or any surrounding areas.” And he also shared a heartfelt message to his beloved dog while asking the community to keep their eyes out: “Charlee, if you’re out there, hang on, my pretty girl. Daddy’s coming for you. To everyone reading this, y’all know how much our four-legged friends mean to us country folks. If you’ve seen a pregnant dog that looks like her, or heard anything at all, please message me, comment below, or share this post. Any little clue could bring her home to her babies… and to us.” His post got a ton of response from the community, with many suggesting hiring a drone company to search for the dog or providing other helpful tips to get her back home. And luckily, it worked. Last night, he shared the news of a possible sighting in the Kingston Springs area of Tennessee, after a dog that was possibly Charlee had been spotted on a security camera. Brice shared the good news this morning that Charlee had been found, and though she does have a broken leg, it seems like she’s going to be just fine: “Here she is in her bed. Her little leg is broken but she’s gonna fix that. She’s so happy to be home, I’m so happy to have her home. Thank y’all so much for all y’all did, all my friends texting me and everybody on social media and all that. I’m just so glad I did that because, man, 24 hours to find, you know, somebody so special. Appreciate y’all again and again.” You love to see it. Hopefully Charlee heals fast from her injury, but there’s no doubt that Brice is over the moon to have his baby home. As he said in his original post, dogs are more than pets: They’re family members. It’s not a stretch to say that I like my dog better than most people, and I couldn’t imagine the mess I would be if she went missing for two weeks, or the relief and happiness I would feel when I got her back. But a favor to ask of Lee Brice: Don’t worry about writing a song about the ordeal. I can’t handle dog songs, because I always end up an emotional mess.The post Lee Brice Shares The Best Possible Update After Asking For Help Finding His Missing Dog first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Could Chris Stapleton be retiring?! Say it ain't so! Continue reading…

It was mostly good news for Lee Brice and his family this week. Continue reading…