Koe Wetzel has recently become intrigued by the yacht rock genre. The country music star recently joined the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about how becoming a dad has changed his life for the better, how Koe Wetzel Day came to be, new music that’s on the way, and his upcoming album being written before he became a father. 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. Simply put, there’s a lot of exciting things happening in Koe Wetzel’s life right now. One of the more minor things that he’s recently found a lot of joy in is… the yacht rock genre (move over Keith Urban). Wetzel was discussing how he loves the vibes of beach front festivals (speaking of, get your Gulf Coast Jam tickets here), and always tries to work in some beach tunes. By beach tunes, he means “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffett. And speaking of beach music immediately led Koe Wetzel to reveal that there’s a new genre of music that he’s become a big fan of lately. It’s been his go-to vibe while driving, playing golf, or doing anything really: “I’m a big yacht rock guy. I’ve been jamming to so much yacht rock man. I got in the truck the other day. I got on SiriusXM or whatever and put it on my yacht rock station. Dude, I was just jamming. It felt so good. Even on the golf course. Anywhere. It just soothes the soul a little bit. I don’t know if it’s a getting older thing maybe?” @whiskeyriff @Koe Wetzel #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff If you’ve never heard of the style of music before, it originated and became popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s… and dads everywhere absolutely love it (we hypothesized with Koe that it could be a dad thing). There wasn’t really a legitimate name for the sub-genre of rock until someone associated it with “the type of music you listen to while boating.” Considering one of the biggest hits of yacht rock is “Sailing” by Christopher Cross, that makes sense. Koe Wetzel loves it so much that he’s trying to figure out how to work it into music that he’s currently working on, and he’s not ruling out some saxophone – or as he called it, “Dirty Sax” – showing up on a future project of his: “We’ve been trying to incorporate into some of the music we’ve been making. We haven’t mastered it yet. There’s such a feel good vibe about it. Hopefully one day I can get there. But like… the saxophone? Some Hall and Oates? Oh my gosh, it’s so good. Maybe on the next record, we’ll throw in some dirty sax or something like that. Just to kind of get that good time feel.” Koe Wetzel yacht rock concept album? I’m absolutely here for it. You can hear more about it 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 Koe Wetzel Has Become A Big Yacht Rock Fan: “It Just Soothes The Soul” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Sure, you know Carrie and Scotty were on 'American Idol.' But can you name the hitmakers who were on 'Nashville Star'? Continue reading…

A long time coming. In an era filled with some of the most exciting voices we’ve heard in the genre lately, ranging from the likes of Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson to Turnpike Troubadours and Colter Wall, there’s no one doing it quite the way Zach Top is these days on a national scale. Though there are plenty of other stellar artists keeping the traditional scene alive, such as Jake Worthington, Charley Crockett and more, the Washington native has launched himself into the stratosphere as of late. Of course, this was highlighted on a national scale the past few months when he not only took home Best New Artist at the CMA Awards in November, which he accepted with a Coors Banquet in hand, but also when he scored his first-career Grammy earlier this month. In turn, Top became the first-ever winner of the brand-new Best Traditional Country Album category, winning it with his sophomore album, Ain’t In It For My Health. Keeping the momentum going, the “South of Sanity” singer would snag not one but five nominations at the upcoming 61st annual CMA Awards on May 17th. In addition to scoring his first-career Male Artist of the Year nod, the Washington native would also score nominations for Album of the Year (Ain’t In It For My Health) and Single and Song of the Year (“I Never Lie”). Though Top caught some buzz with the release of “Sounds Like the Radio” back in January of 2024 before the release of Cold Beer & Country Music, there’s really no arguing that “I Never Lie” was the track that helped blow him into the stratosphere. In addition to receiving a whole lot of virality online, it would eventually become Top’s first-career #1 hit in on country radio in May 2025 and receive a 2x platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As it stands today, Top has gotten a Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song nomination at the Grammys, a Single and Song of the Year nomination at the ACM Awards and the aforementioned Single and Song of the Year nod at the upcoming CMAs. With “I Never Lie” being so successful, it felt a bit odd that Top never pulled the trigger on a music video for the hit song. That, however, changed today. Taking to Instagram this morning, Top would announce the official music video is finally here, calling it a “silly little movie.” “Now there’s a silly movie to go along with I Never Lie… you know the drill.” View this post on Instagram Like his recent music video for “South of Sanity,” Top keeps “I Never Lie’s” just about as simple as it gets. There’s no visualization of the song’s narrative. Instead, it depicts Top performing the song on various stages along with b-roll footage of scenes of him and his band out on the road on his Cold Beer & Country Music Tour over the past year. Though I’d like to see Top pull out all the stops and deliver an elaborate, narrative-driven music video much in the vain of Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” or Kaitlin Butts’ “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me)” at some point in the future (especially considering the fact he’s so effortlessly funny), I have to respect the “Guitar” singer’s dedication to keeping it simple and letting the music do the heavy lifting here once again. Check it out below. Zach Top Summer Tour Dates June 5 – Durant, Oklahoma – Choctaw Grand Theater with Cole Goodwin June 12 – Orange Beach, Alabama – The Wharf Amphitheater with Cole Goodwin June 20 – Columbia, Maryland – Merriweather Lakehouse with Wyatt McCubbin July 9 – Salt Lake City, Utah – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater with Jake Worthington July 10 – Boise, Idaho – ExtraMile Arena with Jake Worthington July 15 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – Sasktel Centre with Lukas Nelson July 16 – Edmonton, Alberta – Rogers Place with Lukas Nelson August 7 – Ottawa, Ontario – Canadian Tire Centre with Wyatt McCubbin August 8 – Canadaigua, New York – CMAC – Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center with Wyatt McCubbin August 13 – Wantagh, New York – Jones Beach Amphitheater with Marty Stuart  August 20 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – PPG Paints Arena with Marcus King August 21 – Allentown, Pennsylvania – PPL Center August 22 – Bangor, Maine – Maine Savings Bank Amphitheater with Marcus King August 28 – Gilford, New Hampshire – BankNH Pavilion with Marcus KingThe post WATCH: Zach Top Releases Official Music Video For Breakout Hit, “I Never Lie” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Another amazing month of country music in the books. 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. “As It Seems” – Eli Adams “Baby Blues” – James Tucker “Blue Stars” – Blue Stars – Vincent Neil Emerson “Cordova Street Blues” – Jarrod Walker “Dead Man Walkin'” – Waylon Wyatt “Everything Keeps Changin'” – Railroad Earth ft. Paul Hoffman of Greensky Bluegrass “Family Man” – Trey Pendley “Going Gone” – Josiah and the Bonnevilles “Good Day” – Yarn – Saturday Night Sermon “Ghost Moon” – Futurebirds “Great Value Childers” – Moonlight Mile “Hands in the Dirt” – Susto String Band “Heart” – Charlie Marie “Heartache” – Duane Betts “Homemade Margaritas” – Thomas Csorba “Leave The Light On” – Sam Burchfield “Like A River” – Connor Daly “Misfit Hearts” – Zachary Baker – Dark Horse “Moon Over Montana” – The Brudi Brothers – Dark and Stormy EP “My Side of the Mountain” – Old Crow Medicine Show ft. Del McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, & Molly Tuttle “Never Gonna Love This Down” – Erin Viancourt “Red Shoes” – Maggie Rose “Roll the Dice” – Steep Canyon Rangers “Shoot Me Straight” – Joshua Ray Walker “Small Town Living” – Josh Mitcham “Someone Who’s Done This Before” – Kolton Moore & the Clever Few “The Birds Know” – Jim Lauderdale and The Po’ Ramblin Boys – The Birds Know “Try Again” – The Deslondes “Tollbooth” – John R. Miller “Woman (Your Love Is Right)” – Rob Baird 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 – May 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

This week, Kacey Musgraves released her sixth studio album Middle of Nowhere, which Musgraves produced alongside longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. She of course included the highly-anticipated duet with Miranda Lambert, “Horses and Divorces,” in addition to the super talented Billy Strings on the album. She also featured legendary Texan, Willie Nelson, on a song called “Uncertain, TX,” which she previously debuted solo at Coachella. It finds her frustrated with how no one in the town of Uncertain, Texas, can make up their minds. Uncertain is a real town in her home state, about 100 miles east of her home town of Golden, but obviously, everything in this song is made up and she used it as a jumping off point to imagine this entire scenario with the men there. Having the red headed stranger sing on it is an added bonus, and Kacey previously said in an interview with NPR Music’s Jewly Hight that Willie is “the patriarch of truth,” explaining that that the song is about a “town full of f***boys,” and the nature of transient modern dating behavior where Willie helps her throw some shade. She knows he might even be a “great-great-grandpa” at this point, but he’s “still a gangster”: “I had to have Willie on this song. He’s like the patriarch of truth in so many ways. It was important for him to be the narrator, because that song, ‘Uncertain, TX,’ while it is about a real town in East Texas, I had fun imagining that it’s this place where people can never really actually make up their minds. Is it a town full of f***boys where accountability is optional and you just swipe, swipe, swipe and slide to the next option? The song is an acknowledgement of that very transient modern dating behavior after what I went through, and the perfect person to help throw a little bit of shade to that is everybody’s favorite grandpa, Willie Nelson. He might even be a great-great-grandpa, but he’s also a gangster.” I knew anything with Kacey and Willie would be good, and the song certainly did not disappoint. Kacey admits that she’s been played, thinking she was in love and in hindsight, she realizes maybe that wasn’t the case: “Here in Uncertain, Texas I just don’t know anymore You think you really know somebody They may up and walk right out the door Did you ever love me, baby? I thought you different time to time Here in Uncertain, Texas Nobody ever makes up their mind” She continues, saying that it’s pretty unbelievable such a tiny town could have “such a large amount of cowboys that just can’t get off the fence”: “It’s weird that such a tiny town Would have such a large amount Of cowboys that just can’t get off the fence But if you don’t know you’ve got it all And your character isn’t made strong You’re gonna blow away with the wind” Go ahead and preach, Kacey… The last verse, though is the winner, and I love hearing them sing this part so much: “Did you ever love me, baby? I thought you did from time to time Here in Uncertain, Texas Nobody ever makes up their mind Down here in Uncertain, Texas Nobody ever makes up their dusty, old love bomb And snake-charming, bull*** Heart-breaking, God-forsaking dumb*** mind” AMEN to that, queen. Middle Of Nowhere is unique in many ways, it does blend a lot of different sounds and I’m into it, but lyrically, it feels like a return of sorts to the kind of clever, witty and more country side of Kacey, and the songwriting is just top notch and shows why she is a cut above so many of her modern-day peers when it comes to her abilities with a pen. No one does it like Kacey, it’s why she’s one of my all-time favorite artists, and her and Willie putting all the f***boys on notice here is just perfection. Check it out: “Uncertain, TX” And if you’re unfamiliar with Kacey and Willie’s previous duet “Are You Sure,” you’re missing out… Kacey sang it with Willie for her iconic 2015 Pageant Material album, but it was originally written by Willie and Buddy Emmons and first released by Ray Price in 1963. “Are You Sure” “Horses and Divorces” Middle of Nowhere Tracklist: 1.Middle of Nowhere 2.Dry Spell 3.Back on the Wagon 4.I Believe in Ghosts 5.Abilene 6.Coyote feat. Gregory Alan Isakov 7.Loneliest Girl 8.Everybody Wants To Be a Cowboy feat. Billy Strings 9.Horses and Divorces feat. Miranda Lambert 10.Uncertain, Texas feat. Willie Nelson 11.Rhinestoned 12.Mexico Honey 13.Hell on Me “Uncertain, TX”The post Kacey Musgraves & Willie Nelson Put The F-Boys Of “Uncertain, TX” On Notice With Hilariously Honest New Duet first appeared on Whiskey Riff.