It’s been all gas, no brakes for Evan Honer this year. But then again, that’s how he’s operated ever since he released his debut record in 2023, so it’s really nothing new. It’s barely been a month since he dropped his latest record Everything I Wanted, and he’s already back to releasing new music with another single. This time, though, Honer has teamed up with fast-rising indie folk-pop artist Ethan Regan on a sonically upbeat track titled “Young Gun,” and it is a crossover that everyone needs to hear. Now, before I move past the “crossover” terminology, I’ll admit that the largest differentiating factor between Honer and Regan’s music is merely the scene in which they operate. Thus, their collaboration marks more of a crossover in scene than genre. When it comes down to the actual music each of these artists make, the roots of it all are more the same than they are different. Moving to Nashville after graduating college on the heels of a viral cover of Tyler Childers’ unreleased fan-favorite “Jersey Giant,” Honer’s music isn’t particularly country in it’s own right, but he’s found a home within the genre’s independent scene on the strength of his songwriting and the down-to-earth attitude with which he addresses his craft. Sure, there are some undeniably country elements to his music, but Honer’s music by and large fits the indie folk-pop bill as well. Where their music tends to differ is in Regan’s sonic experimentation, as he tends to push the envelope more so sonically than Honer, incorporating elements of funk and hip-hop into his sound from time to time. But on some of his more stripped-back tracks, when it’s essentially just Regan in the guitar, his lyricism shines through and the music is something that every country fan would enjoy if you give it the chance. Given their similarities, and that both have a prominent social media presence, it makes sense that Honer and Regan would collaborate, and after hearing the result, I’m sure glad they did. Check out their brand new single “Young Gun” here: In case you’re not familiar either artist, both have extensive and rapidly growing catalogs of original music that deserve to be explored. Here are a couple of my personal favorites from both to get you started. “Everything I Wanted” – Evan Honer “Curtain” – Evan Honer “Durham” – Ethan Regan “Wildflowers” – Ethan Regan Although both artists primarily tour as headlining acts, Honer has recently opened shows for some of country’s biggest non-mainstream acts like Watchhouse and Turnpike Troubadours, while Regan, on the other hand, has supported the likes of Chelsea Cutler and Rainbow Kitten Surprise. In another collaboration with the country scene, though, Regan has opened some shows acoustic for Sam Barber as well. A certified road warrior who has been on tour all year it feels like, Honer is slowing down at this point for the remainder of the year, and deservedly so. There are a few opportunities left to see him before year end, and he’s already announced his Spring tour for next year: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Evan Honer (@evanhoner) Regan still has quite a few dates left on his fall tour, so if he’s coming to a city near you, I highly recommend buying the tickets and catching the show. I haven’t had the privilege of catching Regan live yet, but word on the street has it they put on quite the show, and his guitarist Ben Burrows is one of the best in the business. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ethan regan (@ethanwregan) The post Evan Honer Teams Up With Indie Artist, Ethan Regan, On Catchy Crossover Single “Young Gun” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Opening up about why they kept their engagement close to their chest. On the Emmys red carpet, Reba shocked the world when she was introduced as a fiancée. Reba McEntire and Rex Lin did not post a prominent announcement that Linn got down on one knee, but subtly nodded that the two are taking the relationship to the next level when an E! News correspondent referred to them as fiancés on the red carpet. “Joining me now is one of tonight’s performers, Reba McEntire and her fiancé, Rex Linn!” Said Zuri Hall before asking the two about their sitcom Happy’s Place. A source confirmed to People Magazine that the engagement happened a few months ago, and they are “very happy.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Reba McEntire (@reba) The two star alongside each other in the TV series, but their relationship blossomed long before they were Bobbie and Emmett. McEntire and Linn first met in 1991 on the set of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, and became friends then; however, they did not become romantically involved until 2020. “We kept in contact over the years, we both know the same people. So it was just like good friends getting back together and having dinner. Then we started texting and talking on the telephone and getting to know each other better during the quarantine.” McEntire shared during a 2020 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. While fans were over the moon to learn that Reba and Rex were headed to the chapel, fans also wanted to know details of when and how they got engaged. In a recent interview with People, Reba shared that the two had been engaged for almost a year before taking it public — but not purposely. “We got engaged December the 24th, Christmas Eve, at Leiper’s Fork (in Tennessee). So we got engaged then, we were going to make the announcement when we got back to L.A. in January, and the fires happened. It wasn’t appropriate.” Reba did not intend for nine months to pass before telling the world about their plans to wed, but that was how the cookie crumbled, and the Emmy moment felt natural for them to share this news with the public. “The time never presented itself until the Emmys when it just happened.” Reba disclosed to the outlet that she was very surprised when he popped the question, and joked that Rex getting on one knee was on “Rex Lin timing” but was very romantic nonetheless. While some might think they are rushing to the chapel given their age, the two are embracing this chapter of their love story and relishing it, with no plans to get married soon. “I totally was thrilled to death. I asked him, ‘Well, when do you want to do this?’ He said, ‘Let’s have fun with the engagement time.’ So we haven’t set a date or anything. We’re just enjoying each other.” The two are clearly a match made in heaven, with Reba sharing earlier this year with Fox News Digital that the two are a “perfect union.” “Well, Rex and I get along in every aspect. He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry. He’s an actor. I’m a singer. I love to act. Now we act together. So it’s just the perfect union, absolutely. And we get along great. We do argue now. We argue a lot, but we have fun doing that too.” During that interview, she shared that she hoped they would one day get married, and that dream has now come true with Rex Linn going from boyfriend to fiancé. Congrats again to the happy couple. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rex Linn (@rexlinn13) The post Reba Shares Why She Kept Her Engagement Secret For 9 Months: “It Wasn’t Appropriate” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Expanding Westward. Ever since breaking out in 2023 with his certified platinum debut single, “Coal,” it was clear that Dylan Gossett was one of the future stars of the alt. country scene. Existing in a similar space as Zach Bryan and Sam Barber, the Austin native has worn his influences on his sleeve. Being inspired by a wide range of artists, ranging from Turnpike Troubadours and Flatland Cavalry to The Eagles and Ed Sheeran, they all come through in subtle ways through his mix of country, folk and Americana stylings. The last two years, in particular, have been nothing short of a fever dream for Gossett. Riding the early buzz from “Coal,” he would follow that up with his stellar debut EP in 2023, No Better Time, which felt very reminiscent of early Zach Bryan and ultimately put the independent country scene on watch. After signing his first major label record deal with both Big Loud Texas and Mercury Records at the end of 2023, 2024 proved to be even bigger. Not only was he featured on the star-studded Twisters Soundtrack, he also released his second EP, Songs in the Gravel, yet another compelling release which featured more stellar songwriting and more polished production. With a limited yet compelling discography, all eyes were on Gossett this summer upon the release of his debut album, Westward, on July 18th — and he did not disappoint. Ultimately, Westward was everything you’ve come to expect from the “Beneath Oak Trees” singer and more. Coming off firing right off the gate, Gossett opens the album with the acapella, hymn-like, Lord Will You Carry Me,” before immediately setting the tone for the rest of the record with the romping “Hangin’ On.” Later in the album, Gossett explores everything from the nostalgia of days gone by on “Roll of 35” and the pre-release standout, “Like I Do” to the frustration of past relationships on slow-burning “Tired of Running” and one of the album’s standouts, “Adaeline (You’re Outta Line).” Of course, he’d balance some of these nostalgic and cynical offerings out with breezy, up-tempo love songs such as “Sweet Lady” and the infectious “Tree Birds.” Overall, Westward was nothing short of a stellar debut from the Texan singer/songwriter. With the production (all done by Gossett himself) feeling the most polished it’s ever been and his already stellar songwriting providing an incredibly impactful journey from track to track, Gossett not only delivered one of the best albums of the year but also proved himself as one of the most exciting young voices in the genre today. Just three month’s after the album’s release in July, he has decided expand Westward in the form of a three-song deluxe edition. In addition to the brand-new track, “Windy City,” Gossett is calling upon none other than two of the hottest up-and-coming acts in the genre, Noeline Hofmann and Ole 60, for reimagined versions of “American Trail” and “Back 40.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dylan Gossett (@dylangossett) “Windy City,” the lone new addition to Westward, feels like Gossett in his sweet spot. Backed by a simple, finger-picked guitar and some soft fiddle, the “Coal” singer reflects on just how far his songs have traveled over the past few years. Centering the song around the fact that his songs down in Austin, Texas, have reached as far north as the titular “Windy City” of Chicago, he uses the metaphor of the distance they’ve traveled as a way to reflect his hopes of a lasting career as an artist incredibly poignantly. As for why he chose Chicago to represent the song, Gossett would tell Apple Music’s Ty Bentli on Today’s Country Radio he made the realization of just how impactful his music has been to many, along with their overall reach as a band, before playing this past summer at Chicago’s Windy City Smokeout festival this past July. “Obviously, I feel like we had a big realization in Chicago, and that’s kind of why I talked about Windy City. But yeah, I mean, it’s just talking about everywhere, about how this music has been so powerful and how it’s been in my life, just how it just goes everywhere. And the fact that people are listening to our music and watching our shows, buying tickets in Australia and in London and Chicago and Los Angeles, not even where I’m from. I would understand Austin, but going and seeing people across world singing these songs, it’s like, yeah, if people are doing that, then we’re doing all right. Our music’s making an impact. That’s what that song really means.” Moving on to the high-profile features from Hofmann and Ole 60, they’re both stellar. Beginning with Hofmann’s on “American Trail,” she once again proves why she’s one of the hottest young stars in the genre today. Instead of simply providing harmony for Gossett and maybe singing over his original third verse, the Canadian singer/songwriter provided her own interpretation of Gossett’s musings of chasing the American dream on the titular trail from the female perspective. Her verse, which Gossett noted was written after hearing the original version once on a plane, immediately places you into the perspective of a woman haunted by the ghost of her mother while she grits her way along the “American Trail.” Singing her praises, Gossett would correctly label Hofmann as one of the best songwriters working today before diving into the recording process. “I think Noeline Hofmann is one of the best songwriters there are right now. I think she’s incredible. I think she’s just uber-talented and her penmanship is just, it’s just absurd. It’s just so good. We connected and I sent her this song and I was like, “Listen, no pressure. I think you would sound great on it. If you want to do it, that’s awesome. I’m just a huge fan, if anything.” And then on a plane, I think she told me, first time ever hearing the song, she just wrote that verse. Just craziness. And I was like, “Yeah, that’s it. That just sounds great. It’s such a perfect part for it.” And then the harmonies and everything that she does on it, it’s incredible. So, no, she flew down to Austin and recorded some of that part, and we became really, really good friends. And yeah, I just have the utmost respect for her. I’m really, really proud of how it turned out.” “Back 40” also feels like a perfect pairing for Ole 60. As one of the heavier tracks present on the fairly reserved Westward, Gossett allows the Kentucky band to lean into their grungy, southern rock-influenced sound. Though Gossett and Ole 60’s styles initially sound like they’re on opposite spectrums of the genre, they pair shockingly well here. Similar to Hofmann, Gossett had nothing but love for Ole 60. Noting how the band “just rips,” he thought their sound and frontman, Jacob Ty Young’s, vocals were the perfect fit for “Back 40” in particular. “I love those dudes. I’m a huge fan of them. Their songwriting too, and Jacob and those guys, they just rip. And I’ve always just respected those guys since the first day we met them. And the dudes just rip. And they’re great guys, they make great music, and I just wanted to kind of be in collaboration with them. We have a history of touring together and I just thought the song would be perfect for him and for Jacob’s voice and everything like that. So I felt like a perfect fit. And they crushed. Put some pedal steel on it too, and it was really cool.” Overall, the three brand new inclusions are simply the icing on the cake of this already stellar debut record from Gossett. Though there are plenty experiencing quite a bit of success in this acoustic-heavy era of country, folk and Americana, none are doing it quite as well. An album that’s simultaneously well-balanced, well-written and sonically cohesive through and through, Westward (Deluxe) is undoubtedly one of the finest releases of the year. “Windy City” “American Trail” feat. Noeline Hofmann “Back 40” feat. Ole 60 Dylan Gossett Tour Dates October 23 – Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre October 25 – Toronto, ON – History October 27 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe October 29 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee October 30 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre November 1 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory November 2 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater November 9 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom November 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Rockwell @ The Complex November 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern November 14 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater November 16 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren December 6 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater at Virgin HotelsThe post Dylan Gossett Expands Stellar Debut Album, “Westward,” With Deluxe Edition Featuring Ole 60 & Noeline Hofmann first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Politics Platner, Partisanship, and Problems Why are there different standards for reacting to the Graham Platner tattoo imbroglio and the White House expansion? It’s the sort of thing that makes an internet jokester say, “I did Nazi that coming.”  Graham Platner, a first-time candidate who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Susan Collins, the moderate Republican from Maine, was revealed to have a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. This was followed by a look into some old posts where he used seemingly violent and homophobic rhetoric online. I’ll leave you to imagine which of these things is most disqualifying in contemporary New England Democratic politics. Or maybe none of it is disqualifying anymore. Platner is a “candidate with a regrettable tattoo,” is how one prominent progressive commentator put it. “Censorious, hall monitor liberalism that refuses to accept growth in people” is bad for Democrats, opined another. The New Republic ran a piece titled, “Graham Platner is a disaster. Democrats need more candidates like him.” (Though in fairness, the “more” in question is untested neophyte candidates who are not boring and decrepit establishment drones, not people with Nazi imagery on their flesh.) “This is a guy who served four terms in combat. He was a Marine, four tours of duty,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent socialist who caucuses with the Democrats and has become one of Platner’s biggest boosters. “He saw friends die. He came out of that war, as he has acknowledged, with PTSD, got good treatment at the VA, got his life together.” Some of these arguments seem… almost reasonable? Has cancel culture finally been canceled itself? As Alex Shephard writes in TNR, “Platner generated a ton of attention online” not by being a Nazi or a shitposter but “by  seeming like the kind of candidate Democrats need—an authentic person with a knack for communicating a populist message in the social media era.” (Shepard was responding to a piece of establishment puffery by Jonathan Martin.) Platner is now shaking up his campaign, though I am not sure this is a personnel problem unless the staffers he is replacing are his tattoo artist and the person managing his Reddit account. A University of New Hampshire poll that was partially conducted after all the negative news broke shows Platner beating Janet Mills, the incumbent governor and Chuck Schumer’s choice for Senate, in a Democratic primary by 34 points. (Noted with the important caveat that the general election polling in the 2020 Maine Senate race bore little resemblance to the actual results.) Except it is impossible to imagine this kind of grace being extended to Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk, a young Donald Trump campaign worker, or really anyone a millimeter to the right of, well, Susan Collins, even in a limited “What a shame that a promising person fell apart once carefully vetted” sort of way. Certainly not in an unabashed, “We all make mistakes when we’re young and this guy has interesting stuff to say about war, the working class, and wokeness” manner. Which brings us back to the news cycle before the unflattering Platner headlines were tattooed across the nation’s front pages: the leaked racist messages from those we did Nazi entering the Young Republicans’ groupchat. Whether this represents genuine bigotry or bizarre, anti-woke contrarian horseplay, it isn’t healthy and it isn’t bad coalition politics to say so, no matter how low-level those involved might be. Even if a poor attempt to be punk rockish or subversive, it brings to mind the old Kurt Vonnegut quote: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” The whole depressing chain of events reminds us how difficult it is to escape political tribalism in such a tribal age, even if one is consciously attempting to do so. I cannot always exempt myself, either, as I watch the meltdown over the White House remodeling project. All this attention to a presidential ballroom in the middle of a government shutdown is probably poor optics, but does it really represent the bulldozing of democracy? If you already accept certain anti-Trump priors, the ruins of the East Wing are a perfect illustration of how this president is wrecking the country, demolishing norms and institutions, and erecting a new castle for himself like the king he ostensibly believes he is. But even as a person who is sentimental about old things, as real conservatives should be, I do not share all of these priors, and I find this a bit overwrought. Like the old song says, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a Rose Garden.” And yet I am self-aware enough to acknowledge that if Barack Obama had done the same thing, I might have reacted as if he had fired a thousand Winston Churchill busts into the sun.  Grace for me and not for thee. We all know who the real bad guys are, and they are surely the people who disagree with us about tax policy. Is that a tattoo of the Laffer Curve you’ve got there? The post Platner, Partisanship, and Problems appeared first on The American Conservative.

The United States’ relationship with Colombia plunged to a new low Friday as the Trump administration sanctioned President Gustavo Petro, his wife, son, and a senior aide. The Treasury Department accused Petro of presiding over a surge in cocaine production and turning a blind eye to cartel activity, charges the Colombian leader denounced as “offensive and false.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions would “protect our nation and make clear that we will not tolerate the trafficking of drugs into our nation.” Earlier this week, Petro accused the U.S. of “murder” after a Pentagon strike allegedly killed a Colombian fisherman, prompting claims of violated sovereignty. President Donald Trump has vowed to slash Colombia’s remaining security funding and raise tariffs, depicting its campaign against drugs as a failure. Petro warned that cuts to military cooperation could disrupt anti-narcotics operations. The sanctions mark a significant reversal in a decades-long partnership in which the U.S. sent billions of dollars to Colombia to help combat drug trafficking and cartels. The post U.S. Sanctions Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared first on The American Conservative.

Quick Wilderness Hack: How to Make Bush Caffeine

They brought cheesesteaks instead of flowers? | Lana Siebel Stand-Up Comedy

It is not enough to be sad. It is not enough to be mad. We must act and act wisely if we are to restore civil society and reinvigorate our nation.