If there’s beef between Zach Bryan and Brantley Gilbert, it’s one-sided. Of course these days it’s becoming hard to find artists that Zach Bryan hasn’t found himself at odds with. Just within the past couple years he’s had beef with his former duet partner John Moreland, been shaded by Drayton Farley, and most notably, found himself in a feud with Gavin Adcock that resulted in the “Something in the Orange” singer jumping a fence at Born & Raised Fest in an attempt to fight Adcock. Most recently though, it seemed we had another budding feud between Zach and Brantley Gilbert following the Turning Point USA alternate Super Bowl halftime show. During the game, Zach took aim at the All-American Halftime Show, which featured Kid Rock, Lee Brice, Brantley Gilbert and Gabby Barrett. First, he took to his Instagram story, sharing a photo of his friend, Harley Carmichael, jokingly watching the TPUSA halftime show on his phone while blocking out Bad Bunny with his hand, while adding his own commentary mocking Kid Rock: “What kid rock actually thinks is happening across America” While he clarified that Carmichael actually watched the Bad Bunny halftime show with him, Zach took to Instagram to share some of the messages he received, while also doubling down and slamming the Turning Point USA halftime show: “I don’t care what side you’re on, a bunch of adults throwing temper tantrums and their own halftime show is embarrassing as hell and the most cringe s— on the planet” Then after the Super Bowl, he and Carmichael took to Instagram to post an elaborate chili dog-inspired parody of Jason Aldean’s 2011 #1 hit, “Dirt Road Anthem,” which was originally written by Brantley Gilbert along with Colt Ford, clearly taking aim and trolling both Gilbert and the “Try That In a Small Town” singer. (Brantley had performed the song a couple days earlier during the TPUSA halftime show). View this post on Instagram Flipping “Dirt Road Anthem’s” chorus, Bryan and Carmichael debuted their own chili dog-inspired parody: “Chili on a hot dog I’m talkin’ ’bout chili on a hot dog Motherf****** chili on a hot dog I’m double-fistin’ chili on my hot dog I need a dog. I got a bad itch Throw in some mustard and some relish Every day is like a ball game Got myself a white shirt with a chili stain” Gilbert, for his part, took the parody in stride, sharing a video of himself in his kitchen jamming to the song while preparing a couple chili dogs. And he’d also throw a little bit of shade Bryan’s way during the response, referencing the near-fight with Adcock in the caption: “Zach Bryan, you can climb all the fences you want, you’re not getting my chili dog” View this post on Instagram And he would once again pay tribute to the remix during a recent show when, in the midst of an end-of-tour prank, he decided to call on opener Travis Denning to help him troll Bryan one final time. Before performing “Dirt Road Anthem” in Tallahassee, Gilbert would jokingly shout out the “I Remember Everything” singer, singing the “chili on a hot dog” line himself and even grabbing a hot dog shirt from a fan in the crowd. “There’s actually a pretty decent remix done here recently.” During the performance itself, Denning would then come out dressed in a hot dog costume, barely able to sing the actual lyrics from laughing so hard. At one point, he managed to fight the laughter and sing Bryan’s “chili on a hot dog” line during the chorus, prompting Gilbert to double over laughing. In the comments of the Instagram post, Denning would joke about how he couldn’t keep it together during the performance. “I couldn’t keep it together for sh*t. CHILI ON A HOTDOG“ View this post on Instagram Brantley was clearly a good sport about the ribbing (hotdogging?) from Zach, and recently he spoke to Us Weekly about his thoughts on the song – and made it clear he has no problem with the Oklahoma native: “I don’t know what his goal was in putting the parody of Dirt Road Anthem out, with chili dogs, maybe making a reference to my dad gut or something. I don’t know. But I honestly just thought it was pretty funny. Like, I thought it was a pretty funny little deal, and just wanted to give it a music video, man, you know, and kind of just play into it a little bit and have fun with it. I think in today’s society, you know, our social climate, so freaking extreme, man, we’ve lost the ability to have conversations and have some fun. I’m not mad at anybody. I know he feels differently about some things politically than I do, I’m sure, which is fine. That doesn’t make me hate anybody, you know? It just is what it is. A lot of us think about things differently. I think we’re just maybe in a hurry to be angry about things sometimes, and I don’t know, personally, I just thought it’d be more fun to have fun with it.” @usweekly Brantley Gilbert set the record straight with Us on what he thinks about Zach Bryan’s “Dirt Road Anthem” parody. ♬ original sound – Us Weekly Honestly, a pretty classy response all around from Brantley. I know he gets a reputation for being a little rough around the edges, but I’ve met a lot of artists and can honestly say that Brantley was one of the nicest – so his response to Zach really shouldn’t be a surprise. Sounds like if there’s any “beef” left between the two, it’s going to be pretty one-sided.The post Brantley Gilbert Gives A Classy Response When Asked About Zach Bryan’s “Dirt Road Anthem” Parody first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

There’s a lot of talk about AI in the music industry right now… and Shooter Jennings thinks he’s found the perfect way to combat the rise of artificial intelligence. The famed producer and son of Waylon Jennings is one of the most respected individuals in the music industry. In just the past couple of years, he’s helped produce projects for Lukas Nelson, Charley Crockett, Jake Owen, Benjamin Tod and the Turnpike Troubadours. And you may have heard that he produced an album called Songbird, which was made up of never-before-heard songs from Waylon that were recorded in his prime and never released. Through his many years as a producer – and recording himself – Shooter has become more than familiar with the art of producing. Jennings has become a master at the craft, and many of the best acts in country music recognize the talent he possesses. Some might think that good production means recordings that sound flawless. Shooter Jennings knows that the greatest production is actually creating songs that sound human. That’s why Jennings has become so upset by the rise of artificial intelligence over the past couple of years. The new technology is infiltrating everything, including the world of the music. You probably remember the uproar that was caused by an AI-generated song topping the Billboard Country Digital Songs Sales chart late last year. Whiskey Riff reported that a track titled “Walk My Walk,” by an artist called Breaking Rust, had seemingly fooled the masses. It was a complete AI creation all around – from the artist, to the music video, to the song itself. AI disrupting music isn’t something that’s going to happen in the future… it’s happening right now. Because of that, artists and producers have turned into the voice of AI resistance. There are many country music artists that have come out and condemned any use of artificial intelligence, and that’s good… but speaking out against something doesn’t always solve the problem. So what’s that “perfect way to keep AI at bay” that I alluded to earlier in the story? Ironically enough, it’s imperfection. I can’t take credit for coming up with that idea. In this situation, I’m just the messenger. Shooter Jennings is the one who thinks highlighting and seeking out imperfections might be the way forward for the music industry, as he explained in this post that he sent out earlier today: “I find myself leaning more towards imperfections in recordings now because of the existence of AI. Mistakes, finger-fouls and wild vocal takes just feel so much more valuable now. Before, somehow everyone was seeking sonic conformity, and now it seems like we’re seeking things that sound human.” I find myself leaning more towards imperfections in recordings now because of the existence of AI. Mistakes, finger-fowls and wild vocal takes just feel so much more valuable now. Before, somehow everyone was seeking sonic conformity, and now it seems like we’re seeking things… — Shooter Jennings (@shooterjennings) March 16, 2026 Isn’t that the truth? Artificial intelligence is slowly but surely training itself to be perfect. That’s valuable in some areas, but not in art. More often than not, perfection in the world of art and music comes from the presence of imperfection. Shooter Jennings thinks that the way artists and producers should be thinking… if only so that human-made and AI-generated music can be differentiated. And this isn’t the first time that Jennings has shared his thoughts about AI. When he discussed the Songbird project on The Drifting Cowboy podcast, Shooter shared that he actually went out of his way to avoid using AI: “AI is so ridiculous, like I hate it. People ask me all the time, or make comments about how… ‘Oh, the new Waylon comes out right when AI happens.’ You know? I’m like, ‘Dude, if y’all knew like I’m a computer nerd, but I have no idea how to do that.’ Like, make an AI Waylon track? It just makes no sense.” At one point during that interview, Jennings did admit that he tried to use AI for some aspects– if only to see how it would do – and he was tremendously underwhelmed by its abilities. Joseph Hudak (the host) quipped that Jennings must have actually been using Skynet, the fictional AI network from the Terminator franchise, to get help with identifying songs. Shooter shot back with this: “Well, Skynet was mentally impaired. I have no faith in it, honestly, it’s all bullsh**.” I’d say most people share that same viewpoint. The post Shooter Jennings Has One Interesting Way For Artists & Producers To Combat AI first appeared on Whiskey Riff.