It's not that surprising that Kid Rock + Zach Bryan would disagree on some things, but we thought this issue would bring them together. Continue reading…

A very happy Gramily… sorry, I had to. This evening, the 68th Annual Grammy Awards will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with Trevor Noah once again returning to host the show. Some very deserving country nominees, as well as performers, that will be taking the stage throughout the evening, though there is one legendary musical family in particular of note, and that would be the Nelson’s, as both Willie Nelson and his son Lukas Nelson are nominated in the brand country category called Best Traditional Country Album. The previously titled Best Country Album category has been changed to Best Contemporary Country Album, so there will be two opportunities for some of your favorite country artists to win one of music’s most prestigious awards. Of course, as you might imagine, the Best Traditional Country Album category is stacked. We have Charley Crockett’s Dollar A Day, Margo Price’s Hard Headed Woman, Zach Top’s Ain’t In It For My Health, Luka’s American Romance and Willie’s, Oh What A Beautiful World all up for the award. Yes, the category is 40% Nelson, and it’s only the second time in history that’s happened at the Grammys, in terms of a father and son both being nominated in the same category for different albums. It’s the first time for a country father/son duo. The only other time it happened in another genre was in 1998, when Julio Iglesias and his son Enrique Iglesias were both nominated for Best Latin Pop Album, though neither one of them won it, as the award went to Luis Miguel. Funny enough, Julio and Willie have worked together in the past, on their hit song “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before.” And while it’s the most competitive category for the country genre this year in my humble opinion, Lukas says he doesn’t view it that way. In interview with the Los Angeles Times, he says he views it as being nominated “alongside” his dad, rather than being up “against” him: “‘Against’ is a strong word. Alongside’ is better. I mean, the Nelsons have a 40% chance of winning, which is pretty good.” Considering they’re both incredible albums, I think that’s a great way of looking at it, and the odds are certainly in their favor when it comes to one for the Nelsons winning this category for the first time. It has to be an incredibly special and full-circle moment for the entire family, as it also includes Willie’s youngest son Micah, who is nominated with his dad as the producer on Willie’s Last Leaf on the Tree record, which is up for Best Americana Album. And it looks like they had some very special cowboy hats made to celebrate the occasion, as Lukas shared a photo of himself, Willie and Micah all wearing tan cowboy hats with the Grammy logo branded on it, as they should considering they’re a very proud Texas family. It’s incredibly cool to see them all nominated for awards in the same year, and Lukas shared the photo along with the caption: “Grammy Family.” What a flex, honestly… But I think I’m partial to the way Ernest described it in the caption: “Gramily.” They sure make country music look good, and as you can probably tell, I’m definitely hoping one of their albums wins in the Best Traditional Country Album category in its inaugural year not only because it would just make sense for a Nelson to do so, but because they’re truly two of the best albums from this past year in country: View this post on Instagram It’s hard to imagine one of them won’t walk away with it honestly, but you never know what could happen. Like I said, that category is stacked, and no mater who wins, it will go to a great artist and fantastic album. You can check out the full list of 2026 Grammy nominees below: 2026 Grammy Nominees The full list of country nominees is below. COUNTRY Best Traditional Country Album Dollar A Day, Charley Crockett American Romance, Lukas Nelson Oh What A Beautiful World, Willie Nelson Hard Headed Woman, Margo Price Ain’t In It For My Health, Zach Top Best Contemporary Country Album Patterns, Kelsea Ballerini Snipe Hunter, Tyler Childers Evangeline Vs. The Machine, Eric Church Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll Postcards From Texas, Miranda Lambert Best Country Solo Performance “Nose on the Grindstone,” Tyler Childers “Good News,” Shaboozey “Bad as I Used to Be [From F1® The Movie],” Chris Stapleton “I Never Lie,” Zach Top “Somewhere Over Laredo,” Lainey Wilson Best Country Duo/Group Performance “A Song to Sing,” Miranda Lambert And Chris Stapleton “Trailblazer,” Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson “Love Me Like You Used to Do,” Margo Price & Tyler Childers “Amen,” Shaboozey & Jelly Roll “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame,” George Strait, Chris Stapleton Best Country Song “Bitin’ List,” Tyler Childers, songwriter (Tyler Childers) “Good News,” Michael Ross Pollack, Sam Elliot Roman & Jacob Torrey, songwriters (Shaboozey) “I Never Lie,” Carson Chamberlain, Tim Nichols & Zach Top, songwriters (Zach Top) “Somewhere Over Laredo,” Andy Albert, Trannie Anderson, Dallas Wilson & Lainey Wilson, songwriters (Lainey Wilson) “A Song to Sing,” Jenee Fleenor, Jesse Frasure, Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton) AMERICANA/ROOTS Best American Roots Performance “LONELY AVENUE,” Jon Batiste Featuring Randy Newman “Ancient Light,” I’m With Her “Crimson and Clay,” Jason Isbell “Richmond on the James,” Alison Krauss & Union Station “Beautiful Strangers,” Mavis Staples Best Americana Performance “Boom,” Sierra Hull “Poison in My Well,” Maggie Rose & Grace Potter “Godspeed,” Mavis Staples “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” Molly Tuttle “Horses,” Jesse Welles Best American Roots Song “Ancient Light,” Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan & Sara Watkins, songwriters (I’m With Her) “BIG MONEY,” Jon Batiste, Mike Elizondo & Steve McEwan, songwriters (Jon Batiste) “Foxes in the Snow,” Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell) “Middle,” Jesse Welles, songwriter (Jesse Welles) “Spitfire,” Sierra Hull, songwriter (Sierra Hull) Best Americana Album BIG MONEY, Jon Batiste Bloom, Larkin Poe Last Leaf on the Tree, Willie Nelson So Long Little Miss Sunshine, Molly Tuttle Middle, Jesse Welles Best Bluegrass Album Carter & Cleveland, Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter A Tip Toe High Wire, Sierra Hull Arcadia, Alison Krauss & Union Station Outrun, The Steeldrivers Highway Prayers, Billy Strings ALL-GENRE Record of the Year DtMF, Bad Bunny Manchild, Sabrina Carpenter Anxiety, Doechii WILDFLOWER, Billie Eilish Abracadabra, Lady Gaga Luther, Kendrick Lamar With SZA The Subway, Chappell Roan APT., ROSÉ, Bruno Mars Album of the Year DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny SWAG, Justin Bieber Man’s Best Friend, Sabrina Carpenter Let God Sort Em Out, Clipse, Pusha T & Malice MAYHEM, Lady Gaga GNX, Kendrick Lamar MUTT, Leon Thomas CHROMAKOPIA, Tyler, The Creator Song of the Year Abracadabra, Henry Walter, Lady Gaga & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga) Anxiety, Jaylah Hickmon, songwriter (Doechii) APT., Amy Allen, Christopher Brody Brown, Rogét Chahayed, Henry Walter, Omer Fedi, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Chae Young Park & Theron Thomas, songwriters (ROSÉ, Bruno Mars) DtMF, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Scott Dittrich,, Benjamin Falik, Roberto José Rosado Torres, Marco Daniel Borrero, Hugo René Sención Sanabria & Tyler Thomas Spry, songwriters (Bad Bunny) Golden [From “KPop Demon Hunters”], EJAE & Mark Sonnenblick, songwriters (HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI) Luther, Jack Antonoff, Roshwita Larisha Bacha, Matthew, Bernard, Ink, Scott Bridgeway, Sam Dew, Kendrick Lamar, Mark Anthony Spears, Solána Rowe & Kamasi Washington, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar With SZA) Manchild, Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff & Sabrina Carpenter, songwriters (Sabrina Carpenter) WILDFLOWER, Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish) Best New Artist Olivia Dean KATSEYE The Marias Addison Rae Sombr Leon Thomas Alex Warren Lola YoungThe post “Grammy Family” — Lukas Nelson Shares Adorable Photo With His Dad, Willie Nelson, & Brother Micah Ahead Of Historic Grammy Night first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

2026 is off to a hot start, folks. As always, the first couple weeks of the year were relatively slow in terms of new music releases. By the time we made it to the middle of January, though, it was clear that artists were through with their holiday rest and ready to get back to the grind. In just the past few weeks, there have been so many amazing album and single releases, and it’s impossible for us at Whiskey Riff to cover every single song that deserves to be heard upon its release. But in my opinion, that is a great problem to have, and it speaks to the strength of the country music scene today as opposed to a decade ago or so. So, in an effort to draw attention to some of this music, I’ve compiled a list of 30 new songs released over the last month that we didn’t get to cover in depth at Whiskey Riff, but should all be on your radar as a country music fan. I could probably list close to 100 songs that have been released within the past month that we haven’t covered but are still worth listening to, though for the sake of relative brevity, we’ll keep it at 30. And hopefully in addition to finding a handful of songs to throw on your playlist or keep in rotation, you’ll find a few new artists to explore their catalog, keep up with, and see live as well, because there are so many underrated and up and coming artists waiting to be discovered that are included in this list. “A World Away” – John R. Miller “Back To Life” – Cordovas – Back To Life “Bad Habits and Good Horses” – Julianna Rankin “Can’t You Hear That Train” – Magoo “Cast Iron Heart” – Emily Scott Robinson ft. John Paul White – Appalachia “Cheyenne’s in Carrizo” – Logan Ryan Band – Kamikaze (The Album) “Chicago in Fall” – Charlie Shafter – SAFARI “Clouds Always Part” – Tyler Richton and The High Bank Boys “Creepin’ Jenny” – Time Sawyer “Daylight Saves” – Calder Allen “Forgiven” – The Wilson Springs Hotel “Gone” – Kindred Valley “Good Things” – Yarn “Highway Junkie” – Andy Thomas “I Don’t Care” – Buffalo Traffic Jam “I Need To Be Still” – Ward Davis “Junior Stayed Home” – Graham St. Clair Band “Keep Your Eyes Open” – Railroad Earth ft. Daniel Donato “Lying To Your Face” – Evan Honer ft. Sierra Carson – Everything I Wanted (& More) “Murderer” – Tristan Trincado “Normal Man” – Will Slater – Normal Man “Off My Mynd” – Old 97’s “Out for Blood” – Cigarettes @ Sunset ft. Grizfolk “Out of My Mind” – Josh Mitcham “Someday” – Rob Baird ft. Julianna Rankin “Southbound” – James McCann – It’s Been So Long “The Long Surrender” – NEEDTOBREATHE “Tulsa County Jail” – The Kruse Brothers – Heartbreak & Honky-Tonk “Warning You Whiskey” – Brit Taylor “World of Trouble” – The Montvales Check out our Under The Radar playlist to hear all of these songs in one place. Spotify: Apple Music: The post 30 New Country Songs That Need To Be On Your Radar – February 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

The daughter of a country music legend is adding her voice to those speaking out against ICE. Rosanne Cash, the oldest daughter of Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto, shared a message on her Instagram this week addressing not only the recent ice storm that has crippled much of Tennessee, but also the ongoing immigration enforcement currently being conducted by ICE. Of course the raids currently being conducted by ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, have been a hot topic lately, especially following the shooting deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Many on the left have called for ICE to be defunded and end their immigration raids, while those on the right have criticized leaders who seem to be encouraging confrontation and interfering with federal agents. Obviously it’s an issue that people on both sides feel passionate about, and Rosanne Cash is making clear where she stands. In her video, the daughter of the Man in Black said she was in Nashville visiting her daughter when the ice storm hit and they lost power. The family eventually moved to a hotel, though as she points out, there have already been several deaths due to the storm and there are still (as of right now) around 70,000 households in the city that are still without power. “I came down here several days ago and stayed with my daughter and the storm came through and we lost power and we stayed there for a couple days with two small kids before it got too cold to be there anymore. It’s difficult to get out. Trees down the road, icy hill, icy streets. Got to a hotel. Very lucky to get to a hotel because some people are trapped behind downed power lines. Several people have died. I’m sure you’ve all read about it. They don’t think that my daughter will have power until the weekend. They are staying in their recording studio, which does have heat. Anyway, I’m sure you read about it. Total disaster.” She then turns her attention to the other kind of ICE that’s been in the news, blaming the Department of Homeland Security for the slow disaster response in Nashville while condemning the deportation raids: “Just want to point out that Department of Homeland Security is responsible for disaster relief. I haven’t seen or read about them being anywhere here. Too busy shooting private citizens and deporting five-year-olds. It’s unspeakable and it’s a sign of a country that’s falling apart. And I know I haven’t said much lately because I haven’t known what to say. This isn’t the country I was born in or that my ancestors have been here for since the 17th century. I never thought I’d see this.” She ends with a call to not only defund, but to prosecute those involved with the raids, and in her caption calls for anyone who supports the Trump administration to unfollow her. View this post on Instagram Cash isn’t the first singer to compare the natural disaster in Nashville to the ICE raids in Minneapolis. Earlier this week, Sheryl Crow also took to Instagram to call the storm “symbolic” of what’s going on in the country right now: “We are going on four days of an ice storm with no power and no definite end in sight, which has felt very symbolic with all that is going on right now. (While my power was restored yesterday, much of Nashville is still without power with record low temperatures.) I have had time to contemplate what it means to feel powerless. But, we are never without power as long as we come together and raise our voices. We must show up to protect our freedom and the existence of our democracy from a corrupt government, that is trying to make us believe we have no rights. They are lying. We are not helpless, even where ice/ICE is concerned. I will continue to post in my stories ways you can help if you feel powerless.” View this post on Instagram  The post Rosanne Cash, Daughter Of Johnny Cash, Calls For ICE To Be Prosecuted first appeared on Whiskey Riff.