Jason Aldean believes this classic country group can be likened to The Beatles. The group consisting of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr (who is now actually delving into country music) are often considered to be the greatest band of all time. The Beatles’ impact on music is undeniable, and many artists site the British rock band as an influence or an inspiration. Though Jason Aldean likely respects what The Beatles did for music as a whole, there’s another group that he thinks of as his own, personal Beatles. They came along a decade or so after Lennon, McCartney, Starr and Harrison came together, and they share a name with a certain southern state. On a recent episode of the Try That In A Small Town podcast, Aldean shared that Alabama acted as the country version of the Beatles for him: “With Alabama, it’s a different thing with those guys for me. That’s my Beatles. For people who love The Beatles (and say) they kind of changed the way they played music and all those things, that’s what Alabama is for me.” The band, founded by cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, is one of the most beloved country groups in the history of the genre. They’re unique fusion of southern rock and country helped earn them over 30 No. 1 hits, including “Southern Star,” “Face to Face,” and “Forever’s As Far As I’ll Go.” Aldean went on to say that it’s their sound and storytelling through their lyrics that really brought him to love country music: “(Alabama’s music) had a lot of the things I loved about southern rock and a lot of the storytelling and lyrics and things like that that I loved about country music. So those guys have always been it for me.” View this post on Instagram Not a bad comparison by any means. Most country fans would probably think of The Highwaymen as country’s Beatles before Alabama. But then again, The Beatles weren’t a bunch of well-known stars joining together to form a supergroup. So maybe others can agree – and possibly even relate – that Alabama is a Beatles-level band. And to be clear, Jason Aldean isn’t trying to convince anyone else. He just feels like Alabama is incredibly important to him and his eventual path into country music. The country star got more into detail about why in his podcast that shares the name of that controversial single he released back in 2023. Here’s the full episode of Aldean’s Try That In A Small Town podcast, in case you wanted to watch the whole thing: And while you are still here, it wouldn’t hurt to explore Alabama a bit more, and shine a light on some of the band’s timeless hits. Songs like “I’m Ina Hurry (And Don’t Know Why),” “Dixieland Delight,” and “Song of the South” are the Alabama hits that get the most attention. And there’s a good reason that they do… they’re phenomenal country tracks. But I’d encourage you to check these out if you haven’t already: “She and I” “Mountain Music” “Tennessee River” The post Jason Aldean Views This Band As His Country Music Version Of The Beatles: “Those Guys Have Always Been It For Me” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

The actor scored a string of major county hits. Continue reading…

Hey, it happens… On this date in 2008, Carrie Underwood released her hit song “Last Name,” which was the third single from her second studio album, Carnival Ride. She ended up winning her third consecutive Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance with it, and it ultimately became her seventh straight #1 country single, and even a minor crossover success as it peaked at #19 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Carrie co-wrote the song with Luke Laird and Hillary Lindsey, and it’s a pretty simple track about her going out with friends, getting drunk and having a fling with a man whom she can’t seem to remember the last name of… they wind up getting married, and she doesn’t even know her own last name because she’s in too deep now and it’s too late to ask because the embarrassment of that is just too much. It’s funny, it’s witty, and honestly, it doesn’t exactly seem like a song Carrie would record, but as it turns out, it was actually based on her own personal experience… I think a lot of us think of Carrie as a sweet mom now, but back when she was putting out heaters like “Before He Cheats,” Carrie had some very edgy songs and she was a bit of a bad***… honestly, her song with Miranda Lambert “Somethin’ Bad” never got the credit it deserves, but I digress… While she never drunkenly eloped to Las Vegas or necessarily went home with someone who she didn’t know the last name of, she confessed to USA Today many years ago that the song actually was written from her own life experience. She recalled meeting a guy at an Oscar’s after party, and he got her number, they talked a little, but she never got his last name… they at least got close enough that she should’ve known his last name, but she couldn’t ask because it would’ve been offensive at that point, so she just never did, and a song was born: “I met a guy at an after-party and asked him his last name 3 times, but it never stuck. He got my number, we talked a few times, and I didn’t know what his last name was. I was way past the point where I should have known his last name, and if I asked him, I knew it would offend him.” Well, at least she got a heck of a song out of it… Luke Laird told AOL: “We wrote ‘Last Name’ in January of 2007. My manager, Chris Oglesby, set up the co-write with Carrie, Hillary Lindsey, and myself. Hillary is one of my best friends, so we had written many songs together. The three of us had already written one song that day. Then Carrie was telling us about meeting some guy at a post-Oscar party. The guy got her number, but when he called her she realized she didn’t even know his last name. He called her a couple of times, but she said it was past the point of her asking him his last name. Anyway, when Carrie told us that story, we all just ran with ‘last name’ and came up with a fun storyline. Very fun day! We laughed a lot.” Carrie has been happily married to her husband, former NHL star Mike Fisher, since 2010, and they have two little boys together, but in speaking at the benefit concert We’re All for the Hall, Carrie explained this all happened before she met her “beautiful, wonderful, perfect hockey husband”: “Before I met my beautiful, wonderful, perfect hockey husband, I had met this guy. I got together with Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird to write, and we were goofing around like we always do. I was telling them about this guy I met. They asked who he was, and I said, ‘Y’all! I don’t even know his last name!’ We hadn’t even dated or anything and it didn’t turn out the way this song did, but I said, ‘We need to turn this mess into a song!’ And this is it.” I mean, it was brilliant, and even though Carrie might not have lived the exact story in the song, I think there’s plenty of people who have, and even if you haven’t, it’s still so funny and such a banger. I wonder who it was… someone not very famous it would seem? Honestly, it might be one of her most underrated songs, and there’s a reason it became a big ‘ol hit… I forgot how good it really is and I’m going to have it on repeat for the rest of the day now… there’s also a great music video “Last Name” The post Believe It Or Not, Carrie Underwood’s Hit “Last Name” Was Written About Her Own Personal Experience first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Let the anticipation begin. Simply put, there’s no one doing it quite as well as Zach Top these days. 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 back in February. 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. Though Ain’t In It For My Health came out fairly recently, August 29th to be exact, it hasn’t stopped fans from clamoring for new music from the “I Never Lie” singer. Honestly, I can’t even blame them; it’s hard to truly dislike Top. Beyond his killer guitar skills, smooth vocals and aforementioned ’90s sound, he’s also simply charismatic as all hell, effortlessly making traditional country cool again. Luckily for fans of the Washington native, Top has some big news coming very soon. Yesterday, he’d take to Instagram to tease a brand new heartbreaker. View this post on Instagram Sitting in a dimly lit room with nothing but his acoustic guitar, Top would deliver the first verse and chorus to a never-before-heard song, seemingly titled “What He Said She Said.” Spoiler alert: it sounds like another heartbreaker from the “Splitsville” singer. “He said he saw her at Dina’s coffee shop Outside table, sitting by herself She looked up from her book and lit up with a smile And it only took a minute for my name to come up And he said she said say hello to him And tell him that I miss seeing him around Now the only hope that I have left Is hanging on to what he said she said” Just in case getting a brand new teaser wasn’t enough, shortly after uploading the new song, Top would take to his Instagram story to tease some “big news” coming later this week. Additionally, he’d prompt fans to sign up for his text/email list for first access to the announcement. While it’s still unknown what the “big news” is exactly, a new batch of tour dates seems most likely. Though Top has plenty of festival dates, as well as opening spots for Chris Stapleton and George Strait, scheduled for the rest of the year, he recently finished his last round of headlining shows earlier in the year. Of course, that’s just speculation, but it seems like we’ll have confirmation on this “big news” incredibly soon. Before you go, fire up a standout from Ain’t In It For My Health, “When You See Me.” Zach Top Tour Dates April 11 – Florence, Arizona – Country Thunder Arizona April 24 – Lubbock, Texas – Jones AT&T Stadium May 22 – Norfolk, Virginia – Patriotic FestivalThe post Zach Top Teases Brand New Heartbreaker, Promises “Big News” Is Coming This Week first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Could they be ready to put their past drama aside for their first public performance ever? I can only hope and dream… Kacey Musgraves’ sixth studio album Middle of Nowhere, will feature the highly anticipated duet with Miranda Lambert called “Horses and Divorces,” and they’re both set to perform at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas on May 17th: View this post on Instagram Kacey was announced as a performer yesterday, too: View this post on Instagram While they’re currently listed as separate performers, that doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t get a duet. These kinds of award shows are usually the perfect places for the biggest stars to crossover, and I personally think we need it because women in country music are having a massive moment right now thanks to artists like Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley and Megan Moroney, and Kacey and Miranda were two pioneers, and some of the only ladies at the forefront, for much of the last ten or 15 years at least in mainstream country (Carrie Underwood t00). In case you didn’t know to add a little context here, Miranda’s song “Mama’s Broken Heart” was released as the fourth single from Lambert’s 2011 Four the Record album in 2013, and was written by Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally and of course, Kacey Musgraves. The song peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and has since been certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA, which means it has moved over 1,960,000 units. The story goes that Miranda really wanted the song, and Kacey was reluctant to give it up, clearly knowing that it was a hit, and it was apparently pitched to Miranda without Kacey’s knowledge. She ended up giving it to her (though she does sing background vocals on it), mostly for the sake of her co-writers because Miranda was the much bigger artist at the time, but it created some resentment, understandably, that lasted for years. But Kacey decided it was time to bury the hatchet, so to speak, and in speaking with NPR Music’s Jewly Hight, Kacey explained what went down back then and how the two of them ended up working together for this album. Ultimately, Kacey said it all worked out because she went with “Merry Go Round” as her debut single, and in my humble opinion it’s one of the greatest country songs of all time, but still, there were hard feelings considering how everything went down: “Yeah. It was two singers from two nearby, small Texas towns. There’s a lot that comes with that. Then we each take our own different paths, both leading us to Nashville at different times. There was all this excitement behind ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ for me and it was gonna be my first single and I loved the song so much. I had been a staff writer for years at that point writing for other people and had finally felt like I was collecting songs that felt like me that I didn’t wanna pitch to anyone else. Then, the song gets pitched to her without my consent or knowledge. It was a tricky situation. She ended up loving the song and she really wanted it. And I had other co-writers to consider. I knew I would have to go back to the drawing board. And ultimately, I’m really glad that I did, because it forced me to write ‘Merry Go Round,’ which ended up making way more sense for me anyways, aesthetically and lyrically, to kick my whole thing off, versus ‘Mama’s Broken Heart.’ And that ended up going number one for her. So in the end, everyone won because I was able to let go of something.” They lost touch at that point and definitely “wouldn’t consider each other friends,” but when Kacey saw a photo of Miranda riding one of her horses on Instagram one day, it sparked an idea… because they have two things in common: “horses and divorces,” and a song was born. Kacey says she randomly reached out and asked Miranda if she wanted to write it with herself and Shane McAnally, and Miranda was eager to do it: “We’d lost touch for years and wouldn’t consider each other friends. I saw her on Instagram one day, riding one of her horses, and I was like, ‘Well, we ain’t friends, but I guess we have two things in common, horses and divorces, that’s for sure. Wait, that could be a really funny song. What if it’s a duet with her? What if I got her to write on it?’ I just randomly reached out to her and I was like, ‘I know we’ve had our s*** over the years, but listen, we’ve at least got two things in common. I’m not trying to be your friend. You got your life, I have mine. But I think this would be a pretty f****** funny song, and we should write it with Shane [McAnally].’ And she was like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m in, let’s do it.’” Kacey called it a “very full circle” moment, adding that they aired out an past laundry, had some laughs, and wrote the song in a matter of hours: “So it was very full circle in so many ways. We aired out any of the old past laundry. We had some laughs and wrote the song in a matter of a few hours.” I already know it’s probably going to be my favorite song on the album… it feels like the Super Bowl to me, though that actually still feels like a mild explanation. It’s hard to imagine that two of the biggest stars in country music, in a time that there were very few big female stars, never worked together or had much to do with each other at all, even though they clearly have so much in common and come from towns that are very close together. It feels like seeing them singing on stage together would not only be a huge moment for ratings (which we all know these shows need a lot of help with), but also a big moment for the genre where women are absolutely crushing it and many of whom were directly inspired by Kacey and Miranda in particular and have discussed it publicly many times. What both of them did for country music can’t be understated… they were bold when it wasn’t cool, said what they wanted when it wasn’t popular in the least bit, and kept authentic, honest country alive in an era that was mostly filled with guys, many of whom were much less talented than them in my humble opinion, singing about trucks, girls and beer. They’re absolutely both trailblazers in their own right, and the world deserves to see them singing about “Horses and Divorces” for the first time ever. And even if it doesn’t happen this year at the ACM Awards, I’m hopefully we’ll get to see Kacey and Miranda perform it live one day because I already know it’s going to be a hit. Any show would be lucky if they were the ones to make that happen.. But if not, we’ll always have “Mama’s Broken Heart”: Middle Of Nowhere is due out on May 1st, just two weeks or so before the ACM Awards… sounds like perfect timing to me. 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 MeThe post Will Kacey Musgraves And Miranda Lambert Perform Together At The ACM Awards Following Long-Standing Feud? I Can Only Hope… first appeared on Whiskey Riff.