Runway debuts a physics-aware world model that simulates reality to train agents and power video, robotics and avatar applications.

An intimate look at the making of Snipe Hunter. Today, Tyler Childers is giving fans a detailed behind-the-scenes look at Grammy-nominated album, which is up for Best Contemporary Country Album at the 2026 Grammy Awards. He is also nominated for Best Country Song for “Bitin’ List,” Best Country Solo Performance for “Nose on the Grindstone,” and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Love Me Like You Used To Do” with Margo Price. Of course, the record was produced by Rick Rubin, a legendary producer who has worked with everyone from Beastie Boys and Run DMC to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica, and he has a reputation for pushing artists well outside of their comfort zones and creating real magic. As was expected, they delivered something very unique and creatively different than anything Tyler has done before. And this look at their process is fascinating, which comes in the form of a 10-minute mini-documentary that features footage from throughout the recording process, as well as exclusive new commentary from Childers, producers Rick Rubin and Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn and mixing engineer Shawn Everett. It looks like they had cameras rolling for a lot of the process, so you see a ton of their recording process, which is fascinating because Rubin and Childers are generationally great creatives. To see them working together is utterly fascinating, and Tyler explained how he viewed this whole journey: “I was texting back and forth with Rick, just telling him about this trip that I took when I was 15 with my uncle to tour (Jack) Kerouac’s birthplace. There was a statue there that had a bunch of drawings on it, made to represent the melding of Kerouac’s biggest beliefs, his Catholic raising, and that’s really what I was trying to do with this album. How do I fold my catalog into itself? Make this snapshot of that blended oneness. Working with Rick, it just felt like going on a road trip with somebody who was just excited to be on the road trip. Didn’t really have any preconceived notions of where we were gonna stop, and was just as ready to hear about places that we should see along the way as much as much as he was excited to suggest things that we could do.” Rubin called it a “blessing” to work with an artist like Tyler: “I first heard him when he put out his first album, there was some energy in his voice that sounded so different than anyone else. And any opportunity to work with someone that great is a blessing. I would always ask him to either play it for me on guitar by himself, or to make just an acoustic demo of him playing the song so that we could hear the song without the interpretation of what the band, or any band, brings to it.” He says there were some songs that they would record every day for a week, then go back and listen to the different versions and pick the one that was “undeniable” in terms of being exactly what they were searching for: “There were some songs that we would do every day for, I don’t know, a week, and then listen to the differences between the different takes form day to day without even aiming for anything different. Just to see, energetically, what was different on that day. And then we’d just do performances until they sounded undeniable. All the records we make are merely reflections of who we are in that moment. If he was to make an album with these same songs in five years, it would probably be a very different album The approach tells you a lot about where they’re at in their trajectory.” It clearly worked for them, because they ended up with a fantastic album, and Tyler says it’s really the culmination of everything he’s been “hunting” for creatively: “You know, I’m still that same clubfoot kid at the dead end of a hall. How do you express that creativity sonically? It’s always been that snipe that I’ve been hunting for.” They recorded the album in Malibu and Hawaii, and you see some gorgeous scenery from that landscape as well, and you can watch the entire video here: Tyler will embark on a 2026 tour that kicks off in March in Europe. Tyler Childers 2026 Tour Dates March 3—Dublin, Ireland—3Arena March 6—Glasgow, U.K.—OVO Hydro March 8—Manchester, U.K.—AO Arena March 10—Brussels, Belgium—Ancienne Belgique March 13—Paris, France—Salle Pleyel March 15—Berlin, Germany—Uber Eats Music Hall March 17—Copenhagen, Denmark—K.B. Hallen March 21—Amsterdam, Netherlands—AFAS Live April 23—Dallas, TX—Dos Equis Pavilion* June 4—Birmingham, AL—The Coca-Cola Amphitheater~ June 5—Greenville, SC—Bon Secours Wellness Arena~ June 7—Lexington, KY—Railbird Festival June 10—Darien Center, NY—Darien Lake Amphitheater† June 11—Hershey, PA—Hersheypark Stadium† June 13—Columbus, OH—Buckeye Country Superfest July 9—St. Louis, MO—Hollywood Casino Amphitheater‡ July 12—Chicago, IL—Wrigley Field# July 14—Kansas City, MO —Morton Amphitheater§ July 15—Des Moines, IA—Casey’s Center§ July 18—Boulder, CO—Folsom Field# (presented by AEG) September 30—Sacramento, CA—Golden 1 Center§ October 2—Seattle, WA—Climate Pledge Arena§ October 3—Portland, OR—Moda Center‡ *with special guests TBA and Scott T. Smith ~with special guests Evan Honer and Scott T. Smith †with special guest Evan Honer ‡with special guests Wednesday and Scott T. Smith #with special guests Jon Batiste and Wednesday §with special guest WednesdayThe post Tyler Childers Gives Fans An Intimate Look At The Making Of His Grammy-Nominated Album ‘Snipe Hunter’ With Mini Documentary first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

When you think back on some of your most beloved Christmas memories, I think a lot of us don’t even think about the gifts we received any given year. If you’re like me, you might recall going to pick out the perfect Christmas tree with your family, or a certain dish your grandma makes around the holidays, but every now and then, you might receive a present that you remember forever. I would imagine that if you do have a favorite present you received either in childhood or as an adult, it probably had some sort of sentimental value attached to it either because of who gave it to you, the meaning behind the item, or both. And country music’s most famous lady, Mrs. Dolly Parton, has an incredible gift that she got from her band back in the day which holds a ton of sentimental value. She explained that the very first guitar she ever got as a little girl was a Martin, which is what she learned to play on. It’s where she first got the spark and desire to play country music, something that has stayed with her through decades and made her one of the world’s most iconic and beloved musicians. She had planned to have it restored as an adult, but a house fire got to it first, and Dolly lost that imperative piece of her childhood. I can’t imagine how devastating that was… it represented so much about where she came from and how she was able to realized dreams beyond her wildest imagination. So one year for Christmas, her band decided to go in on a very expensive collectors item in a vintage Martin guitar, similar to the one she played growing up, that had been restored and was in great condition. She was so taken back they would do that, and she called it a “treasure”: “The best gift I’ve ever gotten is probably a little Martin guitar that my band saved up, or pitched in and bought for me. I’m sure is cost a lot, because it’s a collectors item, but my first guitar when I learned to play was a little Martin, and it got burned in a house before I could have it restored, so that was just a treasure to me to get that. It was like having my little guitar back.” Dolly could by herself any guitar in the world now, but it’s sweet that her band new how much that original guitar meant to her and did so much to try to give her something as close as possible to the original. In a video with Williams Sonoma, Dolly also recalled one of her favorite Christmas memories, the year her little brother Randy was born: “I have so many precious memories, but probably my favorite Christmas memory is the fact that we used to only get the magazines, the catalogs, and we loved all the things in there that we couldn’t have. And so this one particular year, we were crying for a walking, talking doll. We wanted that so bad, but we couldn’t afford it. It just so happened that my mama had a baby, another baby, there were so many of us. So that was my brother Randy, and he was our Christmas baby.” She also explained how grateful she is for some of the biggest moments in her professional career: “I have so many things that I’m grateful for in my life. Probably one of the greatest things is when I became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, that was always my childhood dream when I was standing on the porch singing in a tin can on a tobacco stick on that little cabin. So when I got to actually be a member of the Grand Ole Opry, that was very special.” Dolly was inducted to the Grand Ole Opry in 1969, and considering how instrumental the influence of so many artists before her were that she listened to on the radio at the Opry, it’s not surprising to hear how important that was to her. Like many of us, her favorite things about Christmas are as follows: “Faith, food, fun, family, it’s all great.” Amen to that… The full video is available below. The post Dolly Parton Recalls Her Band Gifting Her A Vintage Guitar For Christmas After Her Childhood Guitar Got Destroyed In A House Fire: ” Treasure To Me” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Jelly Roll still can’t get over the fact that he was a part of the first ever concert in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. No matter how you slice it, 2025 has been a remarkable year for Jelly Roll. He’s as healthy and slim as he’s ever been, and rapper-turned-country-artist has hits on both the country and Christian charts. His collaboration with Brandon Lake on “Hard Fought Hallelujah” landed No. 1 on both of Billboard’s religious charts: Hot Christian and Christian Airplay. It was even crowned the top Christian song of 2025. The “I Am Not Okay” singer spoke about the impact that the song has had during his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. Though most of the conversation revolved around his health journey, there were still a couple of big, music discussion moments… like Jelly Roll getting invited to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and the opportunity that Jelly had a couple of months ago to sing at the Vatican for the 2025 Jubilee Year celebration. The singer said it might have been his best vocal performance ever: “I got to sing it at the Vatican, Joe. I got to sing this at the Vatican. I sang in St. Peter’s Square. First live concert ever in St. Peter’s Square, right outside St. Peter’s Basilica. I will tell you, (and I’m biased), it might have been the best vocal performance of my career.” Jelly Roll was actually surprised by how well he sounded, considering how a) nervous he was and b) he couldn’t hold it together during soundcheck. Standing in the historical place and getting to be a part of St. Peter’s Square’s first ever concert was a bit overwhelming, especially when Jelly Roll thought about the religious significance of where they were all standing. And to add to all of that, Jelly found out he’d be performing by himself: “I went out to soundcheck. I couldn’t even get through soundcheck, I was crying so hard. (Then in the actual performance), I’m shaking. They called me to do this, and it was Pharrell and Andrea Bocelli who put this together. I get there and Teddy Swims is there and Jennifer Hudson is there. I get there and I’m like, ‘What’s the story here?’ Everybody was either singing with Pharrell or Bocelli, but me. I was the only person in that whole event that was singing alone. So I get super nervous. Brandon Lake couldn’t make it for some reason. I was like, ‘This is bad.’ I’m bawling crying, I had never been more nervous. When I go to do it, right before I go out, they come to me and go, ‘Hey, Jennifer Hudson is gonna come out at the very end and do Hallelujah with you. You just praise for a minute while she does it.'” So he was singing by himself… until the very end. Jelly Roll was very complimentary of the vocals of Jennifer Hudson (duh), calling her one of the greatest female vocalists of all time. He was already a bit shellshocked to be performing where he was, and now he learned that he’d share the stage with Hudson. Jelly said that Jennifer came up and asked him if he had any notes or suggestions for her. At first, he laughed at the very idea of giving direction to Jennifer Hudson, but then he said: “Then it hit me, and I looked at her, and I’ll never forget this moment. She said, ‘What do you think we should do?’ I said, ‘We give them Jesus. I think that’s why I’m here alone. I think I’m the one that’s supposed to bring Jesus here. It’s a Jesus thing, obviously. This is supposed to be the church we grew up in Jennifer.’ She was like, ‘That’s all I needed to hear.’ Just when I had the best vocal performance of my life, Jennifer Hudson comes out and takes them to church. It was full praise and worship at that point. Two hundred choir members with their hands up in the sky. We’re in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, they’re worshipping out there. Hands in the sky. It was… it’ll make you tear up a little. It was such a Jesus moment.” Can I get an Amen? What a cool moment, and a very fitting opportunity to give praise to Jesus. And in case you wanted to check out that very performance that Jelly Roll was alluding to, you can press play on the video below: “Hard Fought Hallelujah” – Jelly Roll & Jennifer Hudson (Live from St. Peter’s Square) The post Jelly Roll On How He Overcame The Overwhelming Feeling Of Holding Worship At The Vatican: “Give ‘Em Jesus… That’s Why I’m Here” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A federal judge has just ordered the release of MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. The judge is an Obama appointee. Here’s more from Newsmax: A U.S. judge on Thursday . . .

In a hearing with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem this morning, Nancy Pelosi’s former J6 Unselect Committee Chairman, Bennie Thompson, actually referred to the terrorist attack on West Virginia National Guardsmen, serving in . . .