Classic Garth. Country music singer Garth Brooks has always had a little quirkiness to him. He's an undoubtable superstar, but he's a little weird. At least from the perspective of a fan. Garth talks about himself in third person, he gets choked up more than anyone on the planet, and he's released some unintentionally scary videos over the years. That's why people are always asking him where he's hiding the bodies, in case you didn't know. Occasionally, Brooks pulls back the curtain on his own to let fans learn more about him. He's often done it the most in his Anthology Series, of which the fourth part was just released. The Anthology Part IV: Going Home came out in early December, and this part of the "Garthology" focuses in on the 14 year period that the country music singer spent away from music after his surprise retirement in 2000. One of the stories he included was the proposal he pulled off for his wife Trisha Yearwood. Like a gentlemen, Brooks first got the permission of Yearwood's parents before he decided to go forward with his proposal plans: "I have Jack and Gwen all to myself on a plane, and I ask them for their daughter's hand in marriage. This was in the spring of 2005, and I get their permission. And now I have to ask the three daughters." Trisha also contributed portions of the anthology, and she apparently admitted that she had no clue that all of this was going on. Garth's next step was to talk to his three daughters, whom he had with first and then ex-wife, Sandy Mahl. Brooks described the conversation with them as follows: "I tell the girls to get dressed up for dinner. ‘What are we going to dinner for, Dad?’ I said, ‘We’ll go out tonight and I'll tell you.' So, they're ten, eight and six years old at this point. We're eating dinner, and we started talking about the future. And August or somebody said, ‘Dad, are you getting around to ask us about you marrying Trisha?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ And they were all fine. I said, ‘But this conversation goes deeper than that. She doesn’t have children, so if something happens to me, you have to take care of her. So, you three and Trisha are going to have to get married, as well. You'll exchange rings, vows, everything.'" Okay... that's definitely a different way of viewing things, but one could just chalk it up as just a very caring father trying to do best by his daughters. Nothing to really see there. Though there was a lot to see in the next part. Garth had already asked Trisha's parents for permission, and they said yes. Then he went the extra mile and talked to his daughters, making sure they were all good with it. They gave him the green light. So then, in Garth's mind, there was just one more person to check in with. His ex-wife Sandy. Brooks revealed in writing that he asked for Sandy Mahl's blessing to move forward with Trisha Yearwood: "If Sandy would've said no, then that would've affected a lot of things. The brakes would've came on because we'd have to love together as a family." And according to Garth, his ex-wife said that it was the "right move for our family." That's a real team-player mindset from Sandy Mahl right there. After Brooks seemingly asked every person he knew for the blessing to ask Trisha Yearwood to marry him, the country singer finally got to actually asking Trisha in the spring of 2005. Garth had thought up a very unique and special way of asking Yearwood, and it involved a statue revealing of himself at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California. At the "Legends in Bronze" event that acted as the nightclub's grand opening, statues of Merle Haggard, George Jones, George Strait and Garth Brooks were to be revealed, among others. During the big reveal, Garth instructed that a wedding ring be on his statue's hand: "When they unveiled the statue, I took Miss Yearwood's hand. They've already unveiled Haggard, Jones, Strait… I mean this is pretty fricking cool. And I look at Trisha and point to that ring, and it was like everyone was there, but nobody was there but us. And the first thing she did was grab her face and start shaking her head from side to side, and I thought, ‘Oh s--t, did I misread this one?" Fortunately, Trisha's shaking of her head was more of a disbelief nod. She later explained that she had simply had her breath taken away by the gesture: "I know it must have scared him to death, but my first reaction was, ‘No! This can’t be happening in front of all these people! But yes! Yes! Yes!'" And the rest, as they say, is history. Nothing like Garth Brooks using a bronze statue of himself to ask for his wife's hand in marriage.

Sounds like we've got some new music on the way from country music's real life cowboy, Colter Wall. If you've never given Colter Wall a shot, I'd encourage you to do so as soon as you can (as in right now). The 29-year-old is wise beyond his years, and ironically enough, the music he makes harkens back to a time before his years. It's as if Wall was picked up in the 1960's or 1970's and dropped right here in the present day to save country music. The Canadian singer-songwriter takes pride in keeping the tradition of country music alive. There aren't a lot of people doing narrative songwriting in modern country, but then again, there aren't many people like Colter Wall in the modern country. And part of that is intentional on Wall's part. Colter doesn't fit into the mold of country in 2024, nor does he want to. He even recently talked about how he thinks awards shows are a huge waste of time. It was actually in that same conversation on the Rodeo Time Podcast with Dale Brisby that the baritone country artist revealed that he's got a new album on the way. When asked if he had any new music in the works, Colter Wall somewhat excitedly answered with a yes - though they apparently hit some non-music-related roadblocks along the way: "We just got finished actually. Just got done. Started a new one like a month ago, then the pedal steel player in the band got everyone really sick. We call him 'Muskrat.' He gave everybody the flu really bad so I couldn't sing. We had like two more days in the studio to finish." Yikes. Wall went on to explain his usual process for crafting an album, and how that plan got thrown off course because of the sickness that worked through his band: "I usually try to have a week... make a record in a week. (That's) usually the way it works out for me. The last couple of days, no one could do anything. We were all zombies at that point. So everyone went home and then we booked two more days, that was just the other week. We went back down to the studio and cinched up the record and got her done." As for when the new music can be expected, Colter Wall said that they'll try to get to mixing it as soon as they can. However, he expects that the album will probably see the light of day later in 2025: "I don't know when it will be out. Probably... I would guess, usually they want to shoot for or put that stuff out around July or August. Hopefully this (next) year we'll get it mixed and out into the world. New record, all original songs (with) one cover on there." Since fans will have to wait a while, podcast host Dale Brisby asked if Wall could at least reveal a name or concept for the project. The "Johnny Boy's Bones" singer laughingly said that they have yet to name it, but he happily explained the inspiration behind the collection of music they put together: "I don't know what it's called. I kind of just wanted to make a straight... it's just a love letter to country music. Really it's just a bunch of sad drinking songs mostly. I just wanted to make a record that sounded like Merle Haggard and the Strangers. Late 60's into the early 70's. Honestly, to me, that's where country music peaked. That's my favorite stuff to listen to and I think that was the best band in country music. I wanted to make a record that reminded me of that. So that's what we did... or tried to (do) anyways." COME ON WITH IT. You can hear more from Colter Wall in the interview below: https://youtu.be/3-02YGQT0U8?si=INq-glMTlw_DBxgP&t=2590

Opening up about Joe Rogan. For a long time, Joe Rogan had raved about the "Cowpoke" singer, Colter Wall. From talking with Luke Combs and how cool of a guy he is to raving about his talent with Jelly Roll, if there is an opportunity for Joe Rogan to speak about his love for Colter Wall's music, he's going to. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtqrpUlP-3/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=cdd9eac1-81cf-438f-848a-913facb5f94b But since 2020, the longstanding question has been: When is Colter Wall coming on the podcast? But whenever Rogan reached out to Colter Wall about having him on The Joe Rogan Experience, Colter turned him down. But why? Well, the answer is simple: he's ranching. Outside of being a creator of honest-to-God country music, Colter Wall walks the walk with the subject matter he sings on. He spends his off time pushing cattle and working the land. Wall often creates his tour schedule around when he can be free of his duties on the ranch, which usually means limited shows and short tour runs. His schedule also means not going out of his way to appear or interview. The ranch always comes first. During a recent and rare interview with Dale Brisby for his podcast, Rodeo Time, Colter Wall speaks out for the first time about why he turned down sitting down for the largest podcast in the world. "In music, the power of 'no' is pretty underrated. Just the power of being able to go, 'No, I'm not going to do that.' And I think, I'll be it, you do have to garner some kind of a following or climb the ladder to get to a certain point where you can say 'no' because you're getting offers for this and that and another. I think it generates some interest in people... People give me a hard time about Rogan all the time, and it's nothing again. There's no cool story. That's why I was worried about coming on this podcast and partially why I don't do podcasts. You guys have ex-military cool people... What am I going to do? Talk about how I sit in a van for like five hours and then get to the venue." While I think many people would beg to differ that we could sit and listen to Colter Wall talk all day, he does think the simple life he lives might not be interesting to some. Regardless, he goes on to detail why he has not gone on Rogan after all of these years of him asking. "But that's partially why I never did try to go do the Rogan thing because it's like, what the hell am I going to say? I'm just not all that interesting. But people give me a hard time about it. 'Why don't you do this? How come you do this?' And my joke I usually tell, usually try to tell, is that I think he'll stop talking about me the second I go on there. It's free publicity at this point for doing nothing."  Colter Wall then jokes that whenever he sends a link to Rogan talking about him on his show, he thinks that's basically an appearance in himself. The longer he goes without physically being there, the more name-dropping appearances he will make throughout his episodes. Honestly respect. Free press is good, and Joe Rogan gives him a lot of good press. Wall rounds out his thoughts on saying "no" to Joe Rogan is because he likes the fact that his face isn't everywhere and he's not easily accessible. I agree with him wholeheartedly. I think a reason, outside of his music, why fans like him so much is that he is mysterious. He goes on the road in the winter when he does not have yearlings to feed, and the rest of the year, Colter Wall lives an everyday life ranching on his farm. He confesses that someday he'll probably go on the podcast, and that the hilarious part is that he wasn't even in Canada when Joe asked him... he was actually in Bastrop, Texas, which is less than an hour from Joe's studio in Austin. Sorry Joe... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-02YGQT0U8

A haunting song with a Friday the 13th release? Oscar and Grammy winning singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham really nailed it with this one. Fans of Yellowstone and the artist who plays "Walker" in the hit western drama have a lot to look forward to this weekend. First up is Bingham's new single titled "A Song For The Stone," which is set to release at midnight on December 13th. Then comes the moment that fans have either been waiting for or dreading for years - the end of Yellowstone. At the very least, it's officially the series finale of the flagship show. In the past couple of days, it has been confirmed that Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser will reprise their roles as Beth and Rip for a Yellowstone spinoff, which is expected to be a continuation of the show. But getting back to the new music at hand, though Bingham is officially releasing the single tonight, fans of Yellowstone have actually already heard the new track. "A Song For The Stone" was featured in Episode 9 of Season 5 ("Desire Is All You Need"). Bingham's character "Walker" plays the tune when Rip Wheeler requests that he play a sad song. Of course, that harkens back to the early previous seasons when Walker asks them if they want to hear a happy or sad song and he plays "All Choked Up Again." And Colby (RIP) famously says "If that's your happy, don't you ever play me goddamn sad." It's definitely a somber one, and a song that Ryan Bingham penned solely for the Yellowstone show. It's the first song that he's ever created as an original track for the hit series, and there's a reason why he waited this long to do so. Bingham didn't want to craft a song specifically for Yellowstone until it felt authentic and could act as a tribute to his experience on the drama that's meant so much to so many: “I’d like to dedicate this song to all the Yellowstone fans out there, all the cast and crew, and all the folks that have made this whole thing possible over the years. It’s been a pretty amazing journey, and I’m honored to just be a part of. It’s taken me a while to write this song, but sometimes you’ve got to live it before you can write it.” And it's clear that he genuinely meant that when you really listen and digest the lyrics of the "A Song For The Stone." The track can very easily act as a theme song for Yellowstone, as you'll be able to gather by reading through some of the poignant lyrics: "It's a choice you make Live and die alone Ride high and shoot low from the saddle When you ride for the Yellowstone I can promise you there's a special place Deep in the mountains of a lonesome road It never gives more than it takes There's always a train at the station on the Yellowstone" The official release of "A Song For The Stone" is coming a bit later today (about an hour from now at the time of publishing), but fans can opt to listen to a fireside version of the song that's already been posted to YouTube if they can no longer wait. Bingham posted the outstanding visual video - crickets and the sound of the crackling campfire included - to his YouTube channel earlier today. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9qR3kkWYBQ

Sounds like he's ready to put this all behind him. Morgan Wallen was in court today to plead guilty to two counts of reckless endangerment, bringing to an end the legal saga that started back in April when the country singer was arrested for throwing a chair off the rooftop of Eric Church's downtown Nashville bar, Chief's. The chair reportedly landed near two police officers who were standing on the sidewalk below the Broadway bar, and when officers went inside to figure out who threw it, Morgan was identified as the culprit by both patrons in the bar and security cam footage. The singer was ultimately arrested and charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment with a weapon (one for each police officer, plus another for the general public), and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. Today was the first time Morgan appeared in court on the charges, after his appearance at a previous hearing back in May was waived by his attorney. But earlier this week, there were signs that the two sides had been able to work out a plea deal, after a previously scheduled hearing was canceled and Morgan's original charges were dismissed to be bound over to the grand jury. Then last night, the felony charges were refiled as misdemeanors, and a plea hearing was scheduled for this afternoon. And at the hearing, Morgan ended up pleading guilty to two counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment, with the other two charges being dismissed. Morgan was sentenced 11 months and 29 days in jail on both charges, to be served consecutively for a total of two years. But the judge suspended all but 7 days of his incarceration, and he'll serve that time not in jail but in a DUI education center. The rest of the sentence will be spent on supervised probation for a term of two years. The conditional guilty plea also will allow Morgan to petition the court to have the charges expunged from his record at the end of his probation - assuming he doesn't get in any new trouble. Overall it seems like a pretty fair resolution to the charges. I know there are plenty of people who think he got off light, but two years of probation and 7 days incarceration isn't exactly getting away scot free. While Morgan hasn't said anything about his guilty plea yet, his attorney Worrick Robinson issued a statement after the hearing, saying that his client took responsibility for his actions and is committed to doing good for his community: "Earlier today (12/12/24), Morgan Wallen appeared in Davidson County Circuit Court with Judge Cynthia Chappell presiding where he entered a conditional plea pursuant to Tennessee’s Diversion Statute that does not result in a conviction. The plea agreement with the Office of the District Attorney requires Mr. Wallen to spend 7 days at a DUI Education Center, be on probation for 2 years — one year for each of the misdemeanor charges for reckless endangerment— pay a $350 fine and court fees... Mr. Wallen has cooperated fully with authorities throughout these last eight months, directly communicating and apologizing to all involved. Mr. Wallen remains committed to making a positive impact through his music and foundation." Morgan recently wrapped up his record-breaking One Night At A Time Tour, and also won his first Entertainer of the Year award at the 2024 CMA Awards - an honor he has yet to acknowledge publicly. Through his foundation, the Morgan Wallen Foundation, the country singer has been busy helping victims of Hurricane Helene in east Tennessee near his hometown of Knoxville. He recently donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross, and also hosted a food and supply drive for those who lost their homes to the devastation. He also spent time visiting with victims, alongside comedian Theo Von and University of Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello.