A whole lot of hardware for a single song. Last night at the 59th CMA Awards, the stars aligned for for Ella Langley. In addition to a killer performance of her current surging single, “Choosin’ Texas,” which is currently sitting at #5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, the Alabama native took home not one but three awards for her 2024 smash hit with Riley Green, “you look like you love me.” The track would win Single and Song of the Year as well as Music Video of the Year, sweeping its three eligible categories and becoming the first song in the history of the CMA Awards to take home all three awards on a single night. In many ways, “you like you love me” has simply been the gift that keeps on giving for Langley and Green. Beyond its massive streaming numbers (267 million on Spotify alone), it’s been one of the most-played songs on Billboard’s new TouchTunes Frontline chart, peaking at #6 throughout the second quarter of 2025. Couple all those accolades with a 2x platinum certification from the RIAA and a #1 spot on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart last December, and you have yourself one of the most successful songs of the past few years. “Just how successful has ‘you look like you love me’ been for the powerhouse duo?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Taking a look at its final run in terms of award-season eligibility, it finished with a staggering seven separate wins across the ACM and CMA Awards. They notched their first win last year at the 58th CMA Awards when the track won its only nomination of the night for Musical Event of the Year. Fast forward a few months to the 2025 ACM Awards, and the floodgates began to open. On a huge night for Langley that included a win for New Female Artist of the Year, she also struck gold with “you look like you love me” once again. Scoring wins for Visual Media, Music Event and Single of the Year, the only category the massive track failed to win was Song of the Year, which went to Cody Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap.” Finally, as previously mentioned, it completed the rare Single/Song of the Year sweep and joined the likes of Brooks & Dunns’ “Believe,” Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse” and Randy Travis’ “Forever And Ever, Amen” as one of the few songs in the history of the CMA Awards to win both in a single year last night at the CMA Awards. There can be full-length thesis papers done on the massive virality and overall impact that the track has had on both Green and Langley in particular, but one of the most interesting thing to note about it, all seven awards and all, is the simple fact that neither of the two superstars actually thought the song would see the light of day, let alone the success its experienced over the past 18 months. For Langley, she would reveal that the song was never even supposed to be recorded, originally being written as a joke with co-writer, Aaron Ratier in an appearance on The Bobby Bones Show back in September 2024. “The song was never supposed to leave my audio recordings. I wrote it as a joke with Aaron Ratier first, and then the label heard it and loved it and then Riley asked us on tour. And him and I just kind of being from the same area, growing up on the same kind of music, I was thinking maybe we could do it out on the road. That’s why I asked him to do it, and I was like, ‘Hey, just kind of write the second verse how you would respond to a girl coming up to you like that.'” As for Green, he also had his doubts about the song, at least from a commerical perspective. In an interview with Zach Sang, he’d note that he thought the song was much too traditional to have success on the radio nowadays. He’d also reveal that he thought it was going to be nothing more than a song the pair performed out on the road together “I didn’t think it was a hit because I thought talking verses were way too traditional to work. But I thought, ‘Well, it would be cool to have a song that we could do together on the road… I thought it was fun; I thought it was something that kind of stayed in your head a little bit. But again, [it] just goes to show you I don’t know because I had no idea it would be the big hit that it was.” A full list of awards won by “you look like you love me” includes the following: 2024 CMA Music Event of the Year 2025 ACM Single of the Year 2025 ACM Visual Media of the Year 2025 ACM Music Event of the Year 2025 CMA Single of the Year 2025 CMA Song of the Year 2025 CMA Music Video of the Year “you look like you love me” Riley Green Tour Dates November 20th, 2025 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena ~/ November 21st, 2025 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center #~/ November 22nd, 2025 – Little Rock, AR – Simmons Bank Arena#^$ December 12th, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Resorts World December 13th, 2025 – Las Vegas, NV – Resorts World May 30th, 2026 – Panama City Beach, FL – Gulf Coast Jam % @Vincent Mason #Jamey Johnson ~Drake White $Lauren Watkins -Preston Cooper ?Mike Ryan Josh Ross /Hannah McFarland ^Dustin Lynch %Festival dateThe post Ella Langley & Riley Green’s “You Look Like You Love Me” Finishes Its Award-Season Run With A Staggering Seven Wins Across the ACM & CMA Awards first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Subtle flex to say that you’ll start making country music eventually… right after you take home an award at the CMAs. Last night, country music fans were finally able to rejoice, as The Red Clay Strays took home the “Vocal Group of the Year” trophy at the 2025 CMA Awards. If you are an avid reader of Whiskey Riff, you might have caught my story from earlier this week where I said that the CMAs should be canceled altogether if they gave Old Dominion the award over The Red Clay Strays. Needless to say, I was very happy with the results of the awards show. Finally, the CMA Awards gave the Red Clay Strays their “we’re here” moment. Not only did they take home the award they were nominated for, the band – consisting of Drew Nix (electric guitar, vocals, harmonica), Zach Rishel (electric guitar), Andrew Bishop (bass), John Hall (drums), Sevans Henderson (keys), and frontman Brandon Coleman – also gifted viewers and those in attendance with an impassioned performance of their latest hit single “People Hatin’.” And there’s a good chance that their performance acted as an introduction to the band for many, as crazy as that might sound. Especially considering they’ve already put out back-to-back musical masterpieces with their debut album, Moment of Truth, in 2022 and their Made By These Moments follow up in 2024. There’s another album on the way in 2026, so new and old fans of The Red Clay Strays alike have a lot to look forward to. But to stick with their big win at the CMA Awards for just a moment, it was very interesting to hear what Coleman had to say in the band’s time with the media post-awards. Once again, the frontman of the Red Clay Strays stated that he and the band don’t really see themselves as a country music group, but that they very much appreciate the genre, and plan on exploring more into it in the future: “We’re very thankful for it. We were a lot of different genres when we started playing together. John was more hard rock, Andrew was more funk and blues, Zach was more rock, Sevans was more jazz, and I was more country. I was the hick of the group. So country music has a very special place in my heart, and that’s the reason I always say we don’t really play country music, because when we get ready to make an actual country record, it’ll be country music. Because I think country music deserves to be recognized as a genre, so if you’re just playing rock n’ roll music, but calling it country music, I think that’s doing country a disservice. So that’s why I always say that. But we are all country boys and we’re Southern gentlemen, so we’re very happy to be accepted by the community – and we’ll eventually make some actual country music, too.” That’s both hilarious and exciting to hear. Most would already conclude that they are doing country music – or at least southern rock – quite well. If The Red Clay Strays don’t even think they are in the country sphere right now, I can’t wait to hear what they come up with when they “eventually make some.” And before anyone gets upset about that quote… cool it. That’s a very respectful and responsible answer from Brandon Coleman, and it even addresses those critics who say what they are doing isn’t country. I don’t know about you, but I’d much prefer to listen to the non-country styling of The Red Clay Strays than the non-country crap that’s played on country radio all the time. Anyways, here’s a video of The Red Clays Strays not playing country music at the CMA Awards: The Red Clay Strays – “People Hatin'” | Live at the CMA Awards 2025 The post The Red Clay Strays Say They’ll “Eventually Make Some Actual Country Music” After Winning Vocal Group Of The Year At 2025 CMA Awards first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A blessing in disguise. Back in early October, Cody Johnson had to cancel the remaining 2025 shows on his Leather Deluxe Tour due to a burst eardrum. He had to have immediate surgery to repair it, and he’s been taking it slow back home while recovering. Last night at the 2025 CMA Awards, CoJo was up for four different awards in his first-ever Entertainer of The Year nomination, as well as nods for Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year with Carrie Underwood for their song “I’m Gonna Love You.” And during an interview with ABC Radio Host Stephen Hubbard ahead of the show, Cody admitted that it was really hard on him to cancel on his fans. Of course, he had a really good but also unfortunate reason for doing so, but it sounds like there’s a small chance he might never fully recover, though he admits he’s “not scared of it.” He has full faith in his ear engineers that go out on the road with him (a lot actually goes into protecting the artists hearing these days, you’d probably be surprised), though he says he’s talked to people who have had a similar experience, and they have told him it eventually comes back, but it does take a while. I can’t even imagine how painful and scary a burst eardrum would be, but Cody seems to be handling it like a pro: “I hated, hated canceling those shows. But, it’s one of the things, like, an eardrum, it’s not like anything else. You have to sit, and be patient, and wait for it to heal. It’s not like there’s a magic button you can push, a rehab you can do on it. So, just waiting. I mean, this may be the way it is for the rest of my life, and I’ll have to figure out how to play shows anyway. Talking to people that have had it happen, they’re like, it comes back, it just takes a while. And I’m like, well look, I’m just gonna go play music anyway. We live in 2025 where these ear engineers that you have on the road can do literally anything, so I’m not scared of it.” In the middle of that journey, Cody’s son was born on Tuesday, October 21st, and so him being sidelined by this health issue had actually been a blessing because he’s gotten time at home with his wife and kids he never would have otherwise: “So there’s the silver lining of being home. I was in the grieving process of, I’m not going to play shows… my son is born. and I started really thinking about it, these moments that I’m having, I wouldn’t normally have if I had been on the road. So I was disappointed for myself and the fans, but at the same time as a dad and a husband. I’m getting to be home with all these moments that I would’ve missed. So I’m in a way kind of thankful for the blessing in disguise.” It absolutely sucks that he’s dealing with this ear issue, but the time at home with his newborn son is irreplaceable, so it’s great that he’s been able to soak in that time and be present for all the special moments with his new family of five. The 59th Annual CMA Awards show airs live tonight, starting at 8:00 PM EST on ABC and will be hosted by Lainey Wilson. Cody also scored the highest charting song of his career this week, as his cover of “Travelin’ Soldier” debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart this week, which encompasses all musical genres. “Travelin’ Soldier” The post Cody Johnson Says His Hearing Might Never Be The Same Following Burst Eardrum That Caused Him To Cancel Part Of 2025 Tour: “I’m Not Scared Of It” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

White House Karoline Leavitt just schooled the pres on the seditious behavior by Democrats calling on the military and the intelligence community to disobey lawful orders. She also confirmed that, of course, . . .

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ripped into a reporter today for not talking about the seditious video by Democrats and instead being focused on President Trump’s response earlier today. Leavitt also . . .

The U.S. unemployment rate in September rose from 4.3 to 4.4 percent, the highest mark since 2021, according to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The report was due to be released in October, but was delayed due to a record-breaking 43-day government shutdown. Unemployment increased even as job growth outperformed expectations. Non-farm payroll jobs increased by 110,000, above projections for an increase of 50,000. The mismatch is at least partly caused by a significant downward revision in total jobs created in the 12 months preceding March 2025—the BLS revised their estimates of non-farm payroll positions down by 910,000, revealing a weaker job market than previously anticipated. According to economists consulted by Reuters, some of the weakness in the job market is caused by artificial intelligence reducing demand for college graduates and entry-level workers, contributing to a particularly difficult labor market for young people, who are already hurting from high costs of housing. A weaker job market may influence the December 9–10 meeting of the Federal Reserve Board, which must decide whether to cut interest rates again this year. The board will not have information from the November BLS report, which also has been delayed due to the government shutdown. The post U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits Four-Year High appeared first on The American Conservative.