What is Beulah Jackson really up to? Ep. 3 of 'Dutton Ranch' may have shared more than intended. Continue reading…

Zach Top stayed scarce intentionally when he first moved to Nashville. The rising country star that’s famously helped revive the country sound of yesteryear has had a whirlwind couple of years in Music City. He was originally form Sunnyside, Washington, and it was there that he found his neotraditional sound. When he moved to Nashville in 2021, he was already started to get some buzz online and in industry circles. Top explained in a recent episode of the Zach Sang Show that his good friend and frequent collaborator, Carson Chamberlain, advised him to not play too many shows when he made the move to Nashville… the opposite of the advice you generally hear in Music City. Ask most artists or songwriters what to do and they’ll tell you to write with everyone, play any gig you get… any opportunity you have is one where you can potentially grown your fanbase. But Chamberlain advised the opposite: “The way he presented it to me – and looking back on it, it was super accurate – was that it can be easy to lose any mystique you have. For me, I was starting to have a little bit of buzz on social media, but I was halfway across the country. And nobody knew where I was or really who I was. Then I moved to Nashville, and Carson was like, ‘You need to keep Nashville at arm’s length just a little bit.’ Play hard to get, I guess.” Evidently, that worked out swimmingly for Zach Top. Now that he looks back on that advice, he credits a lot of his success to that approach. Country music fans, especially in the Nashville area, wanted to see Top live… and that opportunity didn’t present itself all that often. He kept his live performances in Music City to a minimum, and there’s good reason for that: “The way Nashville works, there’s so much going on. There’s something going on every afternoon and night of the week. So if you start taking every gig you can get, like ‘Layla’s on Tuesday evenings, then play this writers round on Wednesday nights, then Thursday over at Robert’s.’ When you are so accessible, people go see you and the first time it’s, ‘Holy cow, what was that? That was really cool.’ Then you start… it’s like the town almost becomes desensitized to you. Whatever was kind of special and cool (turns into), ‘Oh yeah, he’s just one of the whoever is playing shows or writers rounds.’ There’s definitely a lot of people that it’s worked for. But looking back, I think it was really strong advice.” View this post on Instagram If you think about it, that’s just good business. Perhaps risky business, but it’s simple supply and demand really. When there’s a surplus, there’s less value. When there’s scarcity, things become more valuable. Zach Top found that the same is true for artists getting started, and he stuck to the advice that his good friend gave him. Although, I’d venture to guess that really only applies when you’re really, really good, and really experienced. Zach was both. That mystique that Top mentioned kept fans intrigued, and his success story proves that sometimes wonder is worth more than knowing. Obviously, once fans see and hear Zach Top, there’s a slim chance that they wouldn’t want to hear more from him. But just in case… the “I Never Lie” singer kept his appearances sparse, and it certainly looks like it worked out for him. You can hear more from Zach Top in the interview below: The post Zach Top Explains Why He Didn’t Play Many Gigs In Nashville When He First Moved To Town first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Speaking out on the massive verdict. Earlier this week, country rap artist Ryan Upchurch was ordered to pay $17.5 million to the family of a California teenager who went missing back in 2022 before being found deceased weeks later. 16-year-old Kiely Rodni went missing back in 2022 after leaving a party near a campground in Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe. After a two-week search, Rodni’s vehicle was located inside a reservoir near where she went missing. The coroner ruled at the time that her cause of death was drowning and that the death was accidental, with the sheriff’s office releasing a statement confirming that no foul play was suspected: “This ruling is based on the pathologist’s finding that her death was the result of drowning and that there was no other information to suggest she was the victim of foul play.” Following her death, a lawsuit was filed against country artist Ryan Upchurch for videos he had posted on the case, including one during the time she was missing titled “ZERO proof of Kiely Rodni situation being REAL.” In the video, Upchurch says: “Do you realize that you can be a millionaire on GoFundMe by catfishing people with internet deaths? You could do it fast as f–k. Look at the Kiely Rodni GoFundMe. It’s made $63,000 in the past seven days. That’s one GoFundMe for Kiely Rodni. If you have five GoFundMe’s for each individual person that you catfish, fake a death with, all you need is three people. Three people. Three viral stories. You’re a millionaire in two weeks.” The lawsuit, filed by the teenager’s father David Rodni and grandfather Daniel Robertson, accused Upchurch of defamation, false light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, while asking for unspecified damages including “damages to their reputation, financial losses, emotional distress, and punitive damages,” citing the artist’s “outrageous, intentional, reckless, and conscious-shocking tortious actions.” Upchurch filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that his statements in the videos were his opinions and that his speech was protected by the First Amendment: “All of Mr. Upchurch’s videos contain the same elements of drama, hyperbolic language, and heated debate that would certainly give the audience the impression Mr. Upchurch was not asserting objective fact. Mr. Upchurch is not presenting his statements with any indication of private and personal knowledge or authority on investigations.” The court, however, denied Upchurch’s motion to dismiss, and the case ultimately went to trial last week. And on Monday, a Nashville jury found for Rodni’s family on all counts, awarding David Rodni and Daniel Robertson a total of $17.5 million in damages. Following the verdict, his general counsel and manager Tia Bailiff released a statement expressing sympathy for the family of the teenager: “The freedom of speech is one of the most fundamental rights that is necessary for every free society, and that right is one that needs protecting now more than ever. While Mr. Upchurch is a staunch advocate for the United States Constitution and the rights that so many veterans fought and died for, Mr. Upchurch can be that advocate and also feel sympathy for a family in their time of grief. It is in this spirit that Mr. Upchurch would like to extend his heartfelt sympathy to the Rodni, Robertson, and Nieman families. Mr. Upchurch asks that the family be given respect and time to grieve and move forward with their lives, and would ask that the family be allowed to heal in peace. As to the verdict, Mr. Upchurch has no comment at this time.” A statement was also issued by the Rodni’s family, celebrating the verdict as allowing them to move forward during this painful time: “This verdict stands as a powerful reminder that using a massive online platform to spread false claims about a grieving family has real consequences. Now, the family can finally move forward in peace and focus on what matters most — honoring the memory of Kiely Rodni.” Upchurch has not otherwise commented on the verdict or whether he plans to appeal the massive award.The post Statement Released By Attorney For Ryan Upchurch After Being Ordered To Pay $17.5 Million To Family Of Deceased California Teenager first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Clint Black dealt with a nefarious manager when he was first getting his country music career off the ground. The 90s country star just released his new memoir titled Killin’ Time: My Life and Music. In the book, he gets into the highs and lows of his music career that has stretched across decades. And it’s fittingly named, because his debut album – Killin’ Time – is what launched him to stardom. Black was signed by RCA in late 1987 and released his first album two years later in 1989. He recorded the project with his road band, instead of using session musicians like many other artists did at the time. Clint Black has had 13 No. 1 hits in his career, and four of those came from Killin’ Time. One of those was “Nobody’s Home,” and Clint Black told Fox & Friends that it was the first ever demo he cut after meeting his longtime friend and bandmate: “I met this guy, Hayden Nicholas, who is still my lead guitar player. He was filling in for a band I hired for this one gig. He was amazing. We gravitated towards each other. He had a demo recording machine in his garage. The first demo we made was ‘Nobody’s Home,’ which would become a hit for me. I took that to this record promoter I had met years earlier and asked him to help me find a manager.” Though his career seemed to get off to a wonderful start, the manager that he ended up working with took a lot of the luster out of his initial success. Clint Black goes into more detail about it in the book, but basically, the manager signed Black to three contracts where he took 100% of publishing and 50% of everything the country star made. There were a lot of things that Black was kept in the dark about, including a million dollar advance: “I didn’t even know there was a million dollar advance. I was in Nashville recording parts for the album and ran out of money. Didn’t have any money to eat. The producer came over and bought me a pizza, and then called the manager the next day and said, ‘Give him per diem.'” That manager, Bill Ham, was eventually sued by Black in 1992. The country singer filed a $5 million lawsuit against his then former manager, and cited fraud, deceit, undue influence, and breach of contract. A settlement was eventually reached after months of litigation. And that wasn’t the only time that Clint Black had trouble with a manager. In 2008, the country star found himself in a very similar situation, and sued his manager and accountant, Charles Sussman, for alleged financial misguidance. That lawsuit also reached an eventual settlement. Writing the memoir allowed for Clint Black to dive back into some of those legal issues, and he said that he’s proud of himself for getting through all of it while still maintaining his country music career: “What strikes me is, when I put it all together, is how that little guy pushed through all of that. The things I didn’t know I had in me, to get through the injuries and legal battles. It was surprising.” The post Clint Black Recalls How His First Manager Stole Everything and Left Him Broke: “Didn’t Have Any Money To Eat” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.