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Getting down in Cowtown. The 2026 music festival season is quickly approaching, which means that many festivals are closing out 2025 by sharing their lineups. It’s like a Christmas gift of sorts, knowing which festivals to ask for tickets for. And we’ve got another one you might want to ask Santa for that was just announced today, December 8. The 2025 lineup was stacked, showcasing some stellar talent from Treaty Oak Revival, 49 Winchester, Braxton Keith, Shelby Stone, and more. For 2026, the nonprofit music festival and BBQ competition, returning for its milestone 5th anniversary on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at the iconic Fort Worth Stockyards, is bringing you a Texas-sized lineup. The festival is going full Lone Star State for its fifth anniversary, bringing you a lineup where all but two acts hail from Texas. The 2026 lineup includes headlining performances from Whiskey Myers and Randy Rogers Band, along with supporting sets from Amanda Shires, Jason Scott and the High Heat, Ellis Bullard, The Broken Spokes, and Weldon Henson. View this post on Instagram “For our 5th anniversary, we wanted a lineup that felt both elevated and unmistakably Texas. From Whiskey Myers and Randy Rogers Band to Amanda Shires and our all-Texas lineup during BBQ Time, this is the biggest music lineup year we’ve ever produced – one that should make the perfect soundtrack for a memorable day in the Stockyards.” Shared Andy Eldridge, Smokedown Festival Director, Fort Worth resident, and longtime member of the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate. The Public ticket on-sale begins Friday, December 12, at 10:00 a.m. CT at SyndicateSmokedown.com, featuring multiple ticket levels. Given that the Syndicate Smokdown features a BBQ Competition open to both professional pitmasters and amateur backyard teams, there are different ticket options for BBQ enthusiasts, music lovers, and fans of both. While the lineup and BBQ are a huge reason you should make your way down to the historic Stockyards for this festival, you can also have peace of mind that this is for a good cause, as the nonprofit festival raises funds to support 4-H and FFA youth across Texas. “Syndicate Smokedown is built for fans – whether you want to soak up the smoke, get front row for the headliner, or make this Saturday experience part of a full weekend adventure in the historic Stockyards. But no matter which pass you buy, every single ticket purchase directly helps a Texas kid and supports this great state’s agriculture industry.” Added Eldridge. This is not a festival you’ll want to miss. Fire up some Whiskey Myers and Randy Rogers Band while you’re here: “Midnight Woman” “Break Itself” The post Whiskey Myers, Randy Rogers Band & More To Play Fort Worth’s Syndicate Smokedown & Music Festival first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Another country duo going their separate ways. Maddie Font and Taylor “Tae” Kerr have been together as a vocal duo for well over a decade, getting their start under the name Sweet Aliana while in high school before eventually singing with Big Machine Records as Maddie & Tae back in 2014. The duo found immediate success with their 2014 debut single “Girl In A Country Song,” which was a critical look at the bro-country era’s treatment of women in their songs. Honestly, it was pretty bada– for them to come out of the gate with a song calling out all of the “girl in cutoff jeans riding shotgun” songs at the time: “Bein’ the girl in a country song How in the world did it go so wrong? Like all we’re good for is lookin’ good for You and your friends on the weekend, nothin’ more We used to get a little respect Now we’re lucky if we even get To climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along And be the girl in a country song” Maddie & Tae found some minor success with their next few singles, but their next real hit didn’t come until 2019 when they released “Die From A Broken Heart,” which hit #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Despite only having a couple of hits, the duo has been nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year by the CMA Awards every year since 2015, though that seems more so driven by the lack of duos in country music than an indication of their success. Not knocking them at all, but when you compare their resumé to Brooks & Dunn or even Florida Georgia Line, it’s not really in the same category. But now, like Florida Georgia Line, Maddie & Tae have announced that they’ll be going their separate ways. Unlike FGL, this split isn’t driven by any hard feelings between the two singers or a desire to pursue their own solo careers. In fact, during an interview with People announcing the split, Tae revealed that she’s stepping back from the music industry altogether to focus on a more important job: Being a mother. Tae and her husband, Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Josh Kerr, have two children together, including 4-year old daughter Leighton and a 13-month old son, Chapel. And eventually, Tae realized that her heart was at home with her family and not in music and being out on the road: “Maddie was just like, ‘Tell me where your heart is. And I was like, ‘My heart is at home.’ And she said, ‘Okay. Then that’s what we need to do.’” Maddie, meanwhile, plans to pursue a solo career while also balancing her own life as a mother to her 2-year old son, Forrest: “I’m a mother, too, so I totally understand the pull. We both were very aware of T’s heart just not being in touring as much.” But the duo remain best friends, and are leaving open the possibility of a reunion in the future. According to Maddie: “We’re leaving this so open-ended because, you know, we might make another record one day,” Font, 30, says. “We might go do some tour dates one day… Even though we’re not gonna go on this journey as Maddie & Tae together, we’re still walking and doing life together outside of it. And I think I’m really excited to just be best friends and nurture our friendship and not have to worry as much about the work and still get to raise our babies together. None of that changes.” Luckily this sounds a lot more amicable than the last country duo that broke up. And it’s probably why they’re hesitant to even call it a “breakup.” “It sounds so dramatic, and we don’t want it to feel that way. You’ve seen other duos that break up, and they hate each other and blah-blah-blah. I know the world’s probably ready for us to hate each other, especially because we’re women. That just happens for some reason. And that’s why we want to do it this way, to show what it looks like to be two strong, independent, loving women…” The duo have a few tour dates left in 2026, and Maddie is already working on solo projects, with Tae already agreeing to join her on some of those. You’ve got to respect somebody who chooses to put their career on hold for their kids and their family, so hopefully this works out for the best for both of them. And now that there’s an open spot in the Duo of the Year category, maybe Muscadine Bloodline will finally get the respect they deserve…The post Country Duo Maddie & Tae Announce That They’re Calling It Quits…For Now first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Sounds about right. It’s safe to say that, commercially, Hardy and Morgan Wallen are one of the most successful writing duos in recent memory. While, of course, fellow friend and co-writer of both artists, Ernest, also has a serious case with co-writes on the likes of smash hits such as “I Had Some Help,” “You Proof,” “Wasted On You,” “More Than My Hometown,” “I’m The Problem” and countless more, the Hardy and Wallen connection cannot be overlooked. Since they connected before the release of the “Last Night” singer’s debut album, If I Know Me, Wallen and Hardy have teamed up on the likes of his breakout 2018 #1 hit with Florida Georgia, “Up Down,” “More Than My Hometown,” “I’m A Little Crazy,” “This Bar” and, of course, “Sand In My Boots.” Though 2021’s Dangerous: The Double Album had its fair share of smash hits, including the aforementioned “You Proof,” his cover of Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” and “Wasted On You,” which spent a massive 11 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart en route to an 8x platinum certification from the RIAA, it’s safe to say one of the fan-favorites on the album was none other than “Sand In My Boots.” Despite not having some of the pure sales numbers and chart success as some of his aforementioned smash hits, “Sand In My Boots” has undoubtedly remained a key song in Wallen’s discography. Beyond its 2x platinum status and healthy 489 million streams on Spotify alone, the track famously became the title for the Tennessee native’s first-ever festival, which debuted last year and included the likes of Wallen himself, Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn, Hardy and many more. And as it turns out, the track was a birthday gift of sorts from Hardy. Over the weekend, Hardy made an appearance at the Country Music Hall of Fame during a Songwriter Session where he discussed multiple different tracks he’s written for both himself and other artists. In between performances of “Signed Sober You,” “God’s Country” and “Jesus Loves You,” the Mississippi native took some time to discuss how “Sand In My Boots” came to be. Hardy would begin by reiterating that “Sand In My Boots” was originally sent to Luke Bryan, who famously passed on the song since he didn’t want another single about trucks. From there, he’d go onto note that he actually sent it to Wallen on his birthday after the “What I Want” singer requested a piano ballad for his Dangerous project. Hilariously, Hardy would end up sending the song, along with a text reading, “Happy birthday, asshole, here’s your piano ballad:” “Somebody sent it to Luke Bryan, and it happened to also be Morgan’s birthday, the day we wrote this song. At this point, ‘If I Know Me’ is out. And he said, ‘I want a piano ballad for my next record,’ so I sent it to Morgan… And I said, ‘Happy birthday, asshole, here’s your piano ballad.'” The “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL” singer would then go on to explain how his original version of “Sand In My Boots” is a bit different than what you hear in Wallen’s studio version, noting that the Sneedville native changed some lines to better fit his home state of Tenneesee rather than Hardy’s in Mississippi. “There’s a couple of lines in this song that are very Mississippi-specific just because that’s just when I write songs, that’s what I do and I just write about Mississippi. So when Morgan sent me the cut of the song and there was a few lines that were different, I was like, ‘What the hell?’ I was just giving him hell about it, but he was like, ‘I gotta make it more about me,’ and I completely understand that. But every single time I play this song, I just want you to know that I’m gonna play the Michael Hardy version of this song.” Talk about a great birthday present. Watch here: @up2datecountry.live Update: @HARDY talks about the songwriting process behind Morgan Wallen’s “Sand In My Boots” and performs his version of it for the Songwriters Session at the Country Music Hall of Fame – “Sand In My Boots” was written by Ashley Gorley, HARDY, and Josh Osborne #hardy ♬ original sound – up2datecountry.live “Sand in My Boots” The post “Happy Birthday A**hole” – Hardy Hilariously Reveals How He Sent Morgan Wallen His Hit Song, “Sand In My Boots” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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Fight till the end. The post The Queen song Brian May said Freddie Mercury would have sang until he bled first appeared on Far Out Magazine.