I need more. This past weekend, George Strait played two nights at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas, and one of his openers, Mrs. Miranda Lambert, joined him for an incredible performance of his hit song “She’ll Leave You With A Smile,” as well as “I Just Want to Dance with You.” Before they sang, Miranda talked about how she recently performed “Run” in honor of the King at the 48th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, where he was honored alongside cultural icons like KISS, Sylvester Stallone, Broadway actor Michael Crawford, and disco legend Gloria Gaynor. She of course delivered an incredible performance, and she told the Texas crowd that after a few drinks following that performance, George told her she can “pick anything” she wanted to sing for these shows. Miranda understandably took some time to think it over, telling the fans she made her decision just days before these concerts took place: “We’re at home… okay, I got to sing for George when he got inducted into the Kennedy Center Honors. I got to sing ‘Run,’ which we’ve done forever. He looked at me after, and we had some drinks, and he goes, ‘You can pick anything you want to sing.’ Like four days ago, I finally made my decision. I mean, I get to sing with King George, y’all.” Miranda and George go way back, and she opened for him when she was just getting started in country music and has continued to here and there since then, but it’s an opportunity you certainly don’t want to take for granted, and Miranda picked two great songs. “I Just Want to Dance with You” was written by John Prine and Roger Cook, and released in April of 1998 as the first single to Strait’s album, One Step at a Time. It became his 34th #1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, and it’s one of many in his catalog that have reached the top of the country radio charts, and for good reason because it’s a beautifully romantic country song that’s a timeless as can be. Miranda shared some photos and videos from the shows on Instagram, along with a simple and very relatable caption: “I love George Strait!!!” View this post on Instagram While The King is a living country legend, he never misses an opportunity to perform with his openers, and these two are old friends, so it was only fitting that Miranda got to sing two with him for the Texas crowd while they were in their home state. I can only imagine it still feels like a dream for her when she gets to do this kind of thing, even though she’s incredibly accomplished in her own career, and I am really going to need these two to cut something in the studio one day… I actually can’t believe it hasn’t happened already. For now, though, we’ll always have their live performances: 2026 George Strait Shows: Saturday, April 11 Austin, Texas Moody Center Friday, April 24 Lubbock, Texas Jones AT&T Stadium Saturday, April 25 Lubbock, Texas Jones AT&T Stadium Saturday, May 2 Clemson, SC Death Valley Friday, May 15 Austin, Texas Moody Center Saturday, May 16 Austin, Texas Moody CenterThe post George Strait And Miranda Lambert Team Up For Beautiful Duet Of “I Just Want to Dance with You” During Texas Show first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Koe Wetzel returned to the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, and there was a whole lot to catch up on. The country music star talked about how becoming a dad has changed his life for the better, how Koe Wetzel Day came to be (and how he’ll one day explain it to his daughter), his upcoming album being written before he became a father, and his newfound interest in the yacht rock genre. The Texas native also discussed how he connects with God and how he’s growing deeper with his faith, how excited his grandma would be for him to make a Gospel album, his friends not recognizing him anymore because he’s a truly changed man, and how he and Parker McCollum have been back in the studio together. We also touched on how excited he his to play Gulf Coast Jam, which is coming up at the end of May. If you’re looking for the ultimate country music beach weekend, this is it. Gulf Coast Jam is heading back to Panama City Beach, Florida May 28 through June 1 with an absolutely stacked lineup including Post Malone, Chris Stapleton, Riley Green, and Keith Urban plus a ton of other artists all weekend long like Wyatt Flores, Ole 60, Marcus King Band and Koe Wetzel himself. You can hear more about Gulf Coast Jam – and the latest in Koe Wetzel’s life – by checking out the interview on YouTube or making sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or by clicking here. We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts. Cheers, y’all. Audio Video The post Whiskey Riff Raff Podcast With Koe Wetzel first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

She’s a woman of many talents. Carrie Underwood is currently a judge on this season of “American Idol,” in her second year with this gig, alongside veteran judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, and she’s taken some heat this season… but it certainly hasn’t stopped her form giving the constructive feedback contestants need to hear, and when she’s not behind the table at her alma mater, so to speak, where she started her very successful country music career back in 2005, Carrie is a wife to former NHL player Mike Fisher, and mom to two young boys, Isaiah and Jacob. They live on a farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and Carrie has made it a point to keep them grounded and give them as normal of a childhood as possible. She often shares parts of her farm life on social media, like showing off her impressive veggies and green thumb: View this post on Instagram Carrie is also really into canning, and it seems like nothing goes to waste at the Underwood/Fisher household: View this post on Instagram It’s impressive that she not only knows how to do all that, but finds them time to considering how busy her career is, and during an interview with Fox News Digital, Carrie says she could run a completely “self-sustained” home if she needed to, and if she had “all the time in the world,” she probably would. They have tons of farm animals and grow their own food, and her husband is also an avid hunter, so they wouldn’t really need to go to the grocery store for much: “I think if I had to, I could be self-sustained at home. I love growing things. If I had all the time in the world, I would… not really need to go to the grocery store for too much. But it’s a lot of fun. You know, I love our chickens. We have cows, we have sheep, we have donkeys. We have horses. I have my garden, and it’s a great way to connect with the earth. That’s my contribution to the family.” They’re incredibly practical skills, but obviously it’s time consuming, and I’m sure Carrie is teacher her boys a lot of that stuff too which is really cool. But because they’re still pretty young, Carrie says that she still takes on a lot of the responsibilities, but they do have a farm manager who help take care of things while she travels for work: “I feel like a lot of other responsibilities are mine. We have a farm manager who is wonderful… He’s taking care of my sheep while I’m gone. He looks after the horses and things like that. We do as much as we can, but I’m obviously not there all the time, and neither is my husband, so we do have help.” Of course, the inherent values that go along with that simple life are very important to Carrie, and during a recent interview for a SiriusXM Front Row hosted by Nicole Ryan, Ryan Sampson and Stanley T form SiriusXM Hits 1’s The Morning Mash Up, Carrie talked about raising her kids on the farm and how different that life is compared to her life on the road and performing on stage night after night. She explained that she wants them to know that life isn’t really “real,” and even when she took them on tour, she knows they way things got handed to them wasn’t real and she wanted them to know that. Day to day, she is very involved in their lives, and they have a routine similar to a lot of families with young kids, which includes getting up early, making breakfast, packing lunches and getting everyone out the door to school: “Well, there was a definite—you know, I went from living on a farm to being on stage in front of a ton of people and, you know, traveling and we’re in a different city every day and I learned very quickly that this is not real life. It’s not real life. It’s so wonderful. I love performing. I love singing. I love writing. I love being creative. Singing is definitely one of my happy places, but the world that that takes you to is just not real, and more than anything, for my family, I want them to know that. It was hard even taking my kids on tour sometimes because every hotel we’d go to, like they’d just have toys. People would just give them things and I’m like, ‘This just isn’t real,’ so it’s important for me that home is just way different than this, you know, and I feel like we have definitely established that, but yeah. I mean, my kids see me, you know, we get up, we take them to school, we’re making breakfast, packing lunches, like we eat dinner at least five nights a week at the dinner table, and it’s something I cooked. I don’t know if it’s good or not, but we ain’t starving.” It’s going to serve them well as they get older, and I have to imagine they’ll appreciate the kind of childhood their mom gave them, considering she’s a global superstar and they could just have anything handed to them whenever they want in reality. Carrie also bakes a lot and seems to be an excellent cook, so I’m sure her family eats very well and it’s all farm-to-table, so you really couldn’t ask for more… she’s like a real life Disney princess, and she made the perfect Belle during a recent episode of “Idol” too: View this post on Instagram The post Carrie Underwood Says Her Family Could Be Completely “Self-Sustained” If She Could Run Her Nashville-Area Farm Full-Time first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Once again, it started because of an angry exchange between Zach Bryan and a fan. Continue reading…

GET READY. In an industry that truly never rests, Colby Acuff has proven time and time again that he’s not only one of the most talented songwriters flying out of the independent scene today but also one of the most proficient. Since his debut in 2020 with Life of a Rolling Stone, the “If I Were the Devil” singer has proceeded to drop an album each and every year since then. Despite the incredibly high volume of musical output, much like his contemporaries, Zach Bryan and Charley Crockett, it seems as if the Idaho native has simply gotten better with every release. After releasing the beautiful ode to his home state of Idaho in 2023 on Western White Pines, Acuff followed it up in 2024 with arguably his best work to date on American Son, a record chalked full of important tracks touching on everything from anxiety, depression and, as the title suggests, the fear of war in the current state of our country. Last year, he released Enjoy the Ride, which not only captured the number five spot on the Whiskey Riff Top 40 Albums of the Year list. but also provided one of the most unique and rich album listening experiences, with all 11 songs comprised solely from interviewing 40 separate people off the street and having a conversation with them. In case you thought Acuff showed any signs of slowing down in 2026, he’s been proving yet again why he’s one of the hardest-working artist in the genre today. After getting ball rolling back in March with the release of the defiant “WHITE FLAG,” he’d pull off what can only be described as the greatest Cinderella runs of all time during our very own Whiskey Riff Madness tournament coinciding with the NCAA’s March Madness. Taking down the likes Chris Stapleton, Dierks Bentley, The Red Clay Strays, Whiskey Myers, Shane Smith & the Saints and finally the Turnpike Troubadours, Acuff waged one of the most brilliant meme wars of all time, released his very own t-shirt to celebrate the run and won the entire tournament as a #16 seed, gaining the most votes in the history of our nearly decade-long event. View this post on Instagram Now that the dust has settled on the tournament win and the “Dying Breed” singer is nearing the end of his Handmade Horsepower Tour, which kicked off back in March, he’s readying the next era of his music career. In tandem with the release of his brand new single, “LONG WAY FROM THE BOTTOM,” Acuff has officially announced his seventh studio album, HANDMADE HORSEPOWER, which is set to release independently on Friday, June 2nd. Produced once again by Eddie Spear, who has produced his last three records along with the likes of Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak, Sierra Ferrell’s Trail of Flowers, Sam Barber’s Restless Mind and more, HANDMADE HORSEPOWER will contain 11 tracks. Of these 11, the previously-released “WHITE FLAG” and “LIPSTICK ON A PIG,” as well as a bonus track titled “MEANING TO LIFE,” will all make appearances. As for today’s new release, “LONG WAY FROM THE BOTTOM,” it’s becoming abundantly clear that Acuff is going to continue to lean into a southern rock-inspired sound that has been present on his recent releases. Here, he takes a very classic, early Sturgill Simpson-esque approach, leaning into a slightly bluesy style. “They thought they could kill me But I found higher ground And damn whoever said I’s dead Well look who’s laughing now And it kills me in the daylight When I’m tore up and whiskey bound I’m a long way from the bottom But I’ll see you on the way down” If the first three pre-released singles are any indication of the rest of HANDMADE HORSEPOWER, it’s looking like we have yet another killer album on the way from the Idaho native. Clearly diverging away from his tried and true Americana-inspired sound that was present on his first six records, it’s paying dividends so far. I’m sure some long-time fans may be a bit hesitant to embrace the sonic change present here, but it’s more than welcomed. As time passes, it’s become abundantly clear that Acuff has never been satisfied with sticking to the status quo from album to album, and HANDMADE HORSEPOWER is looking to do that once again come June 2nd. HANDMADE HORSEPOWER Tracklist “LONG WAY FROM THE BOTTOM” “MATTER OF TIME” “DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES” “GONE AS GONE GETS” “DEEDS I DONE” “LONG HAULING BLUES” “PLAY FOR KEEPS” “LIPSTICK ON A PIG” “LET YOU GO” “WHITE FLAG” “MEANING TO LIFE” (Bonus Track)” “LONG WAY FROM THE BOTTOM” Handmade Horsepower Tour Dates May 2 – Port Neches, Texas – Port Neches Riverfront Park May 8 – Nashville, Tennessee – The Basement East May 9 – Decatur, Georgia – Eddie’s Attic May 28 – Cambridge, Massachusetts- The Sinclair May 29 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- MilkBoyThe post Colby Acuff Announces Seventh Studio Album, ‘Handmade Horsepower,’ Drops New Single, “Long Way From The Bottom” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.