Tune in now. It’s hard to truly overstate just how important Tyler Childers is to today’s country landscape. Though Zach Bryan undoubtedly launched the low-fi, folk-inspired country sound that many know and love into new heights over the past four or so years, Childers laid the blueprint for Bryan and many others. As we all know, Childers’ rise to fame was far from an overnight endeavor. Though he broke out more commercially over the past five or so years with the likes of hits such as “Feathered Indians,” “Lady May,” “In Your Love,” “Nose On The Grindstone” and his latest viral hit, “Bitin’ List,”  the Kentucky native has been cuttin’ teeth (pun intended) for nearly two decades at this point, with his debut album, Bottles and Bottles, coming out all the way back in 2011. 2025, in particular, was the Kentucky native’s most successful year to date. Though Snipe Hunter didn’t come without its controversy, it once again proved why he’s one of the best in the business and pushed his sound in a new directions. It ended up paying dividends for him as well. Upon its release, Snipe Hunt debuted at #7 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart, along with a #1 entry on their Americana/Folk Albums chart and a #2 entry on their Top Country Albums list. Additionally, he’d score not one but three Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary Country Album, Best Country Song (“Bitin’ List”) and Best Country Solo Performance (“Nose On The Grindstone”) for the record, taking home his first career Gramophone with “Bitin’ List.” Riding the highs of 2025, Childers is plotting his biggest run of shows to date on the Snipe Hunt Tour, which kicks off next Thursday, April 23rd, in Dallas at Dos Equis Pavilion. Moving into bigger venues thanks to the momentum gained recently, Childers is set to headline one of his biggest shows to date at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, with Jon Batiste and Wednesday, on July 12th. In anticipation of the tour, Childers has recently created a live station on his YouTube channel, which is playing a plethora of his best live performances throughout his career. View this post on Instagram Just in the past thirty or so minutes, live versions of his severely underrated “Luke 2:8-10,” “Whitehouse Road,” “Lady May,” “Way of the Triune God,” “Dirty Ought Trill” and more have played. Even better, these performances span from his early, long-haired days to his current, clean-cut look, giving plenty of variety to the performances themselves. If you’re looking for some of the best background noise known to man to throw on or you’re a bit tired of listening to the studio versions of all his tracks for the thousandth time, check out the new station. Though it’s unknown how long this station is going to be available, at this time, it seems like it’ll be playing a plethora of live performances, all in high quality, for quite a while. Tune in here: Snipe Hunt Tour Dates April 23 – Dallas, Texas – Dos Equis Pavilion – with Scott T. Smith June 4 – Birmingham, Alabama – The Coca-Cola Amphitheater – with Evan Honer & Scott. T Smith June 7 – Lexington, Kentucky – Railbird Music Festival June 10 – Darien Center, New York – Darien Lake Amphitheater – with Evan Honer June 11 – Hershey, Pennsylvania – Hersheypark Stadium – with Evan Honer June 13 – Columbus, Ohio – Buckeye Country Superfest July 9 – St. Louis, Missouri – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater – with Wednesday & Scott T. Smith July 12 – Chicago, Illinois – Wrigley Field – with Jon Batiste & Wednesday July 14 – Kansas City, Missouri – Morton Amphitheater  – with Wednesday July 15 – Des Moines, Iowa – Casey’s Center – with Wednesday July 18 – Boulder, Colorado – Folsom Field – with Jon Batiste & Wednesday September 30 – Sacramento, California – Golden 1 Center – with Wednesday October 2 – Seattle, Washington – Climate Pledge Arena – with Wednesday October 3 – Portland, Oregon – Moda Center – with Wednesday and Scott T. SmithThe post WATCH: Tyler Childers Streams Classic Sets Ahead of ‘Snipe Hunt Tour’ Kickoff first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

"Being president's a tough job," Cyrus reflects. "I pray for our country, I pray for our president and I pray for our world." Continue reading…

A very proud dad, indeed… and not just because of Morgan Wallen’s ticket sales and streaming numbers. Actually, it has nothing to do with any of that. Morgan has had an astronomical rise to fame, becoming one of the biggest acts in all of music, but he comes from humble beginnings, growing up the son of a pastor and a teacher in small town Sneedville, Tennessee, located in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee, before moving to Knoxville during his high school years. Morgan’s dad, Tommy Wallen, has spoken about his very famous son publicly before, and in a letter that was included in Morgan’s limited-edition I’m The Problem CD zine last year, where he expressed his pride for his son, and how their family has been to some incredible places because of Morgan’s incredibly successful country music career, and he recalled Morgan’s record-breaking show at Hyde Park in London in 2024. He said that everyone had left their private suite after the show, expect for him and Morgan, and before they headed out to the after party, Morgan started picking up trash and tidying up the space before leaving himself. Morgan certainly gets a bad rap for some of his offstage antics, which in many ways is deserved, but you’d also be hard-pressed to find another star on his level that would pick up trash after everyone else at their own historic concert: “I must have been on the road when I first heard Morgan on the radio. No matter where I drive today, it doesn’t take long before he pops up on a country station. With this fourth studio album on the books, Morgan has, by all means, made it. With that success, he’s taken me and our family to some amazing places. Just this past year, we were at a concert in London, watching the show from a private suite. The room was full of people, and after the band played their last song, everybody filtered out, leaving Morgan and me in that big room alone. Instead of joining the others and going to the party right away, Morgan took a moment, knelt down, and started picking up trash—and that made me smile. My son has become a man, far from the boy I used to hear strumming songs in our garage on my grandfather’s hand-me-down guitar, but he hasn’t lost his way.” I have to imagine that small moment was one filled with incredible pride for Tommy, who as a parent, probably only hoped that Morgan would stay true to his roots and have that kind of character in spite of all of his insane success. He continued, saying he’s proud of everything Morgan has overcome, though he also acknowledged that even the unimaginable success hasn’t solved all of life’s problems for Morgan, and he praised his son for admitting to himself, and the world, that he might be one of those problems: “I’ve seen Morgan go through a lot since he was a kid. The first big problem I saw him face was an injury that dashed any hope of him playing college baseball. I watched him overcome that, only to have another dream put on hold after getting voted off ‘The Voice.’ I followed him to Nashville in a tiny U-Haul truck to drop him off for another try at that same dream—and you all probably know the rest. But along Morgan’s journey, I’ve also seen how success doesn’t get rid of all your problems, no matter how big that success is. It takes a lot to admit that you might be one of those problems. I know because, at a tougher time in my life, I had to say the same thing to myself.” Tommy is a pastor, and he says he’s learned through many years helping guide people that it’s a universal experience, no matter your tax bracket or anything else, to realize you hold the responsibility for the good and bad in your own life many times. And we all know a lot about Morgan’s issues, though Tommy points out that he’s “proud” of Morgan’s problems, because they’ve shaped the man he is now both on and offstage: “I’ve also seen a lot of people in that position, through my work as a pastor, at the moment they realize they may have ruined everything they’d worked so hard for. It’s what you do about those problems that really matters, though.  I’m proud that Morgan has had problems in his life. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be the man he is today. But I’m even more proud of what he’s done with them.” Morgan’s parents have been very supportive of him over the years, and during a new episode of Morgan’s newly-launched SiriusXM radio station, his dad spoke during the “Family Tradition” segment, “I’m Morgan’s dad, Tommy Wallen, bringing you Family Tradition on Morgan Wallen Radio on SiriusXM. Something that doesn’t relate to music or Morgan’s music that makes me really proud, again, there’s no question about this answer also – it’s his sobriety and the Dad he’s become.” Morgan has never outright claimed to be completely sober, though he has mentioned things here and there that at least hinted at the fact that he had stepped back from going out to bars and partying until late at night. During an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast a little over a year ago, Morgan said he’d been trying to stay out of bars, which has been the “best thing” for him at this point in his life: “It’s definitely the best thing for me, you know. If you’re using the bar as a specific example, that’s definitely the best thing for me. I ain’t been in a bar since the last time I was in a bar that everybody knows about. The most public time I was in a bar, that’s the last time I was in a bar.” Of course, that statement was in no way Morgan claiming that he was completely sober, but according to his dad Tommy, that seems to be the case, at least right now, and if that’s true and Morgan did overcome a struggle with alcohol, or is giving it a break for however long he feels necessary, that’s great and something his dad, and Morgan himself, should be very proud of. Morgan is also a dad to his young son Indie, and he’s talked about how that is the most important thing in his life and keeps him very grounded, and so it’s not surprising that Tommy has found so much joy in watching his own son be a dad. Those two things sound simple on the surface, but they’ve seemingly drastically changed Morgan’s life, especially his son, and we all know his public missteps have been highly publicized, so I can only imagine what the journey has been like for his parents as the two people who love him more than anything to watch him struggle, even if a lot of it has been self-inflicted. It sounds like Morgan has grown a lot through it all and has gotten to a point in his life where he’s able to handle all of the fame and success in a much healthier way. Morgan just kicked off his massive Still The Problem stadium tour last weekend, and it will roll into Tuscaloosa, Alabama this Saturday. ‘Still The Problem’ Tour Dates April 18 || Tuscaloosa, Ala. || Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Vincent Mason, Zach John King May 1 || Las Vegas, Nev. || Allegiant Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason May 2 || Las Vegas, Nev. || Allegiant Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason May 8 || Indianapolis, Ind. || Lucas Oil Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Hudson Westbrook, Zach John King May 9 || Indianapolis, Ind. || Lucas Oil Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Flatland Cavalry, Zach John King May 15 || Gainesville, Fla. || Ben Hill Griffin Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King May 16 || Gainesville, Fla. || Ben Hill Griffin Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King May 29 || Denver, Colo. || Empower Field at Mile High w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason May 30 || Denver, Colo. || Empower Field at Mile High w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason June 5 || Pittsburgh, Penn. || Acrisure Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King June 6 || Pittsburgh, Penn. || Acrisure Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King June 19 || Chicago, Ill. || Soldier Field w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King June 20 || Chicago, Ill. || Soldier Field w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King June 26 || Clemson, SC. || Clemson Memorial Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat June 27 || Clemson, SC. || Clemson Memorial Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat July 17 || Baltimore, Md. || M&T Bank Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat July 18 || Baltimore, Md. || M&T Bank Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat July 24 || Ann Arbor, Mich. || Michigan Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten July 25 || Ann Arbor, Mich. || Michigan Stadium w/ HARDY, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten July 31 || Philadelphia, Penn. || Lincoln Financial Field w/ ​​Brooks & Dunn, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten August 1 || Philadelphia, Penn. || Lincoln Financial Field w/ Ella Langley, Hudson Westbrook, Blake WhitenThe post Morgan Wallen’s Father Confirms His Sobriety, Says It’s One Of The Things He’s Most Proud Of first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

He doesn’t miss. Earlier this week, Cody Johnson shared a cryptic teaser on his Instagram saying it feels like time to “start the next chapter,” hinting that new music, and potentially a new album, is coming soon. In a series of photos, there was one of a sheet of lyrics called “I Want You,” leading fans to believe he might be putting this song out very soon: “Feels like it’s about time to start the next chapter…” View this post on Instagram Of course, CoJo has had quite a wild last six months, and back in October, he blew out his eardrum and had to put touring on pause, understandably. Just a month later, he took home his first-ever CMA Male Vocalist of the Year award, snapping Chris Stapleton’s four-year winning streak. His eardrum has fully healed, and CoJo has slowly been putting out some new songs, starting with “Blame Texas” in March and a cover of Merle Haggard’s 1979 deep cut, “Footlights,” a couple weeks ago. CoJo’s most recent album Leather was released in November 2024, and fans have been patiently waiting for new music, and back in February, Cody told Katie Neal that he was sitting on a bunch of new music, and even revealed he cut duets with both Luke Combs and Brothers Osborne: “Me and Luke Combs cut one together. We finally got that done… Brothers Osborne, that was kind of a last-minute deal. I heard the song, and I was like, ‘This sounds like John and TJ.’ They happened to be reaching out at the same time. [They were like], ‘Hey, when we do our next project, would you do this song with us?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely. Would you do this with me on my project?’ So it was kind of a trade-off.” He also teased the fact that even more collaborations are set to appear on the album: “There’s a couple of collabs that haven’t happened yet. It’s still just a lot of cellphone conversation… There’s gonna be some cool surprises on here.” And maybe a little more random, but Cody also confirmed that he recorded a rock project with “one of his rock idols,” so it sounds like he has a bunch of stuff that’s just waiting to be released, and we’re all more than ready for it. So I’m sure you’ll enjoy this studio teaser of the aforementioned “I Want You,” which was written by Matt Rogers, Tom Douglas and Tony Lane. Cody shared the preview on Instagram, which finds him hopelessly in love: “I want you in your blue jeans And in your going downtown dress I want you in your perfect, Or in a perfect mess I want you in your healing And when you’re broke in two I want you And I want you And only you” It’s the kind of song Cody does so well, and while there’s no official release date yet, I have to imagine he’ll be putting this one out very soon, and hopefully, an album announcement is imminent as well. “I Want You” Cody Johnson Tour Dates April 24 – Indio, California – Stagecoach May 2 – Clemson, South Carolina – Death Valley (Clemson Stadium) May 9 – Des Moines, Iowa – Casey’s Corner May 30 – Rosemont, Illinois – Allstate Center July 11 – Cavendish, Prince Edward Island – Cavendish Beach Music Festival July 17 – Columbus, Ohio – Nationwide Arena with Drew Baldridge July 18 – Columbus, Ohio – Nationwide Arena with Ian Munsick & Walker Montgomery July 25 – Jacksonville, Florida – Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena August 8 – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Paycom Center August 22 – Knoxville, Tennessee – Food City Center August 29 – Saint Paul, Minnesota – Grand Casinoa Arena September 12 – Tacoma, Washington – Tacoma DomeThe post LISTEN: Cody Johnson Shares Studio Teaser Of Unreleased New Love Song, “I Want You” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

She still finds joy in the simple things. These days, Lainey Wilson sells out venues all over the world, and in addition to being a household name and one of country music’s biggest stars, her personal life is just as busy, as she’s currently planning a wedding with her fiancé Devlin “Duck” Hodges, whom she got engaged to last February. Duck was a four-year starter at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama before being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Steelers in 2019. He was named the starter during the 2019 season when Mason Rudolph went down with an injury, going 3-3 as a starting quarterback before being waived by the Steelers and signed to the practice squad prior to the 2020 season. They dated for about four years  before getting engaged, and during a party celebrating her radio hit “4X4XU,” Lainey previously shared details about the proposal that happened at the stunning George Jones estate the week after the Super Bowl. Lainey revealed recently that the night they met she was “broke,” and Duck might’ve thought she was doing a little better than she was, and just a few weeks later, she had to have her sister send her some money so she could continue to stay afloat in Nashville and make her dreams a reality: “That was the night we met. I was broke. I was so broke when we met. And he thought I was doing a little bit better than I was. But a few weeks after we met, my sister had to Venmo me a couple hundred bucks.” That was in 2021, and it’s really incredible how much has changed since the years following. Lainey often talks about how supportive Duck is with her career, and they seem like a great match that have already gone through a lot of change together during the course of their relationship with Lainey’s stardom exploding. And in an interview with People for this week’s cover story, ahead of the release of her documentary on Netflix called “Lainey Wilson: Keepin’ Country Cool,” she talked about how she’s learned to find balance being Lainey Wilson the country superstar, and Lainey the “sister, the friend, the daughter, the fiancée,” adding that she makes a ton of effort to stay grounded and not get caught up in awards and accolades. It is very easy to do in her line of work, saying that she can’t “let it define [her]” because that’s when she loses dight of who she is: “I’m not just a singer, songwriter, musician — that’s what I do. Trophies and awards are things that come along with success, but it cannot define me as a person, because that’s when I lose sight of who I am. I got to keep my head screwed on straight.” From the outside looking in, it seems like she’s managed to do that very well, in spite of, being in the entertainment industry. Of course, Duck is a huge part of that, and they were together for two full years before they went public. When they finally made their debut as a couple at in May of 2023 by walking the red carpet together at the ACM Awards, Lainey says she quickly realized that he loves her for who she is, not the musician on stage we all know publicly: “[He] loves Lainey way more than Lainey Wilson. He understands what it means to really work hard for something that you’ve always dreamed about.” I think that’s all anyone could really ask for… the kind of journey she’s had to being a household name isn’t easy, I’m sure it was a huge adjustment for both of them, but the fact that she can confidently say that now, having fully “made it” in every aspect, is a dream come true, I’m sure. And when they’re not on the road, they hang out a lot at their home in Nashville, and Lainey says they keep their date nights very low-key, usually hanging out with their dogs and having an old-fashioned while Duck makes steak. She says: “Being fearless got me here. We’re given one life — and I want to live it.” Lainey’s documentary will be out on Netflix starting on April 22nd, where she will give fans a very intimate look at her life both on and off stage. You can see the trailer below. The post Lainey Wilson Says She Learned A Lot About Her Fiancé When They Went Public: “[He] Loves Lainey Way More Than Lainey Wilson” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.