Keith Urban's yacht rock covers album happened organically, and he isn't quite sure where the muse will take him next. Continue reading…

Bill Cody spent more than three decades as one of country music's most recognizable radio voices and Opry personalities. Continue reading…

Better late than never. Lainey Wilson had all-circle moment this past week at CMA Fest, as she finally got to meet her hero,  Tim McGraw. She has spoken before about how she wrote him a letter as a young girl, who grew up in Louisiana just like McGraw, and it was on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in a YouTube video which documented this whole full-circle moment, Lainey read the opening line of the letter, which was really sweet: “Dear Mr. Tim McGraw, Singing, writing and performing are the most important things in my life. All I need is the opportunity, I can do the rest.” That part was certainly true… And fast forward to last week, Lainey she got to meet Tim, finally making her childhood dream come true. She spoke about how long she’s wanted to get to meet him in person and what an influence he’s had on her career, and during that meeting, he explained to her that he actually just found out about the letter last year. He told her he was “embarrassed” that he’d never seen it, and he took the time to actually write her one back, though he put a really personal and heartfelt touch on it. He wrote it as if he had seen her letter back then, and shared what he would’ve said when she was still that young girl in Louisiana. Of course, Lainey got emotional, saying she was about to cry and mess up all of her makeup, as this was right before she was set to join him on stage: “I was embarrassed, first off, that I never saw it. I wish I would’ve seen it… so, I wrote you a letter back, and I wrote it as though I had gotten the letter. So I wrote it, had I gotten it it then, this is what I would have said. I’m so proud of you.” Such a classy move by Tim McGraw. They say to never meet your heroes, but it sounds like Lainey getting the opportunity to meet Tim was more than worth it, and I’m sure the letter he (finally) gave her back is something she’ll treasure forever. Lainey also got a good laugh out of McGraw when she told him she has a dance routing to all of his songs: Later that night during Tim closing set on the Nissan Stadium Main Stage at CMA Fest, he brought Lainey out to join him in performing his 1995 classic hit, “I Like It, I Love It,” which I imagine was a dream-come-true for Lainey after all of those years of making up dances to his music. Honestly, I’m not sure why these two Louisiana natives haven’t teamed up yet… you can watch them sing “”I Like It, I Love It” here: The post Tim McGraw Responds To A Letter Lainey Wilson Wrote Him As A Little Girl In Heartfelt, Full-Circle Moment first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

The couple are spending more and more time in Colorado these days. Continue reading…

One hell of a first introduction. In many ways, Eric Church is a bit of an enigma in country music. Oftentimes, he strays away from what many would consider to be classic hallmarks of the genre, including but not limited to rare uses of fiddle in many of his songs and the outright refusal to use steel guitar on many of his songs post Sinners Like Me. Despite this, Church has remained not only one of the best artists in the genre over the two decades but also one of the most important, influencing megastars like Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs as well as alternative country standouts such as Carter Faith, Charles Wesley Godwin, Colby Acuff and more. As we know at this point, he’s always done things his own way. From getting kicked off the Rascal Flatts Me and My Gang Tour early in his career and pushing for the release of “Smoke a Little Smoke” despite HEAVY push back from his label to releasing Mr. Misunderstood directly to fans and most recently delivering the incredibly cinematic Evangeline vs. The Machine, Church has had a long history of never adhering to the conventions of whatever is trending in the genre at the moment. This “outsider” attitude, along with his stellar, non-radio-friendly songwriting, almost led to him not securing his first record deal. He’s discussed this before, but recently, he dove into even greater detail on Will Compton and Taylor Lewan’s podcast Bussin’ With The Boys. As the story goes, after doing his rounds in an attempt to get his first record deal, the Chief thought he had finally gotten his break during a meeting with BMG. Having a killer lineup of songs from his debut album, Sinners Like Me, ready, which included “How ‘Bout You,” “Two Pink Lines,” “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag” and the title track, he thought he had it in the bag. “I sat down, and from a cocky standpoint, [I] was thinking, ‘I bet I don’t get through one of these songs. I bet I never have to play two.’ I think I’m going to start ’em with this. We’ll have a deal done. I don’t even have to work hard here.” After delivering “How ‘Bout You,” which was criticized for having a “weird” beat, “Two Pink Lines,” which was deemed too controversial due to the topic of teen pregnancy, “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag,” which received pushback thanks to Church being “too young” to sing about Merle Haggard and finally “Sinners Like Me,” which proved to be the nail in the coffin thanks to it being a waltz, Church left empty handed. The “Springsteen” singer would then share the harsh words he received from the BMG exec, essentially telling him to go back to wherever he came from. “He said, Let me get this straight. You played me a song I didn’t like. You played me a song about pregnancy. You played me a song about Merle Haggard, and you’ve played me a f****** waltz… I don’t know where you’re from or what you did there before you came here, but I would go back and do that.” Unsurprisingly, Church was discouraged after being rejected and was planning on going back home. But as he recalls it, his late brother convinced him to stay and give it one more shot after a late, booze-fueled night at the Tin Roof on Broadway. That one more shot was a meeting with Arturo Buenahora, who at the time was the Senior Director of Creative Services and Production at Sony Music. And this time, Church walked in with a different song: “Lightning.” “Immediately, I’m not playing ‘How Bout You,’ Two Pink Lines,’ ‘Pledge Allegiance to the Hag’ or ‘Sinners Like Me.’ I’m gonna play what I want to play, and I played ‘Lightning,’ which is a song about a guy getting killed, the death penalty — not exactly what you would lead with.” Unlike the meeting with BMG, it only took Church halfway through “Lightning,” which has remained one of his best and a fan-favorite ’til this day, to secure a record deal with Sony. Recently, Buenahora would reflect on the meeting over two decades ago and note that he was impressed by Church because he was unique among the country artists who were popular at the time: “He just writes great songs. He was writing things that nobody else was writing. It was really honest and authentic, and none of it felt pretend. When your job is listening to songs all day, you hear all the ideas. People chase what’s working. He wasn’t chasing anybody.” And to this day, it remains one of Eric’s best songs: “Lightning” Watch the full Bussin’ With The Boys podcast here: The post How “Lightning” Landed Eric Church His First Record Deal first appeared on Whiskey Riff.