Even granny likes to rock. Rock the Country is in full swing, kicking off earlier this month in Bellevue, Texas. The massive festival tour features a jam-packed rotating lineup including Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Jelly Roll, Brooks & Dunn, Riley Green, Ella Langley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Treaty Oak Revival, Shenandoah, Josh Turner, Ian Munsick, Gavin Adcock, and a ton more. While everybody seemed to have a great time, it looks like there was one fan who had more fun than anybody during the first festival – and she happens to be nearly 100 years old. If you’re on TikTok, you might have come across videos from Ross Smith and his beloved grandma, whose real name is Paulina Kana. The “Gangster Granny” as she’s known has become a certified star, and has gone viral in the past for stunts like their hilarious pranks and trick shots. Granny was even at the recent NASCAR race at Talladega where she was a favorite among the drivers:   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Ross Smith (@rosssmith) At Rock the Country though, Granny kicked things up a notch and set a world record in the process. During his performance, Brantley Gilbert welcomed Granny to the stage and announced to the crowd that they were about to be part of the world record for the oldest person to ever crowd surf. Yes, you read that right: The 99-year-old Granny went crowd surfing. Granny clearly enjoyed her experience, and afterwards she showed off her certificate from the Guiness Book of World Records as the official record holder. You never know what’s going to happen at Rock the Country. In fact, during that same festival, another special moment happened during Kid Rock’s headlining set when a couple got engaged right on the stage alongside the rock star. @rachalfam Popped the question during Kid Rock at @rockthecountry love it ! #rockthecountry #kidrock ♬ original sound – rachalfam Rock the Country rolls on this summer with its next stop in Bloomingdale, Georgia on May 29-30, with a jam-packed lineup featuring Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert, Jelly Roll, Treaty Oak Revival, Shenandoah, Josh Turner, Ian Munsick, and many, many more. Tickets are available at RocktheCountry.com, though some packages are already sold out so if you’re planning on waiting until the last minute it’s probably better to go ahead and get your tickets now. ‘Rock the Country’ Tour Dates May 29-30 – Bloomingdale, GA June 27-28 – Sioux Falls, SD July 10-11 – Ashland, KY August 8-9 – Hastings, MI August 28-29 – Ocala, FL September 11-12 – Hamburg, NYThe post 99-Year-Old Grandma Goes Crowd Surfing At Rock the Country first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

The acoustic rendition just hits different. This past weekend at the ACM Awards, Ella Langley cleaned up and swept all seven categories she was nominated in. The Alabama native was nominated seven times (tied for second-most on the night) as an artist, producer and songwriter, and she ended up winning in every category, in Artist-Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year: “Choosin’ Texas” (as an artist and songwriter), Single of the Year: “Choosin’ Texas” (as an artist and producer), Music Event of the Year: “Don’t Mind If I Do” with Riley Green and Female Artist of the Year. Before Ella won seven ACM Awards in one night, the record for most ACM Awards in a single night was six. That record was held by three country icons in Garth Brooks (1991), Faith Hill (1999) and Chris Stapleton (2016). She’s having one heck of a year, and of course, her hit single “Choosin’ Texas” is making history too. As it stands today, it’s the longest-running #1 hit by a female country artist on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 (nine weeks), the only country song by a woman to triple up and go #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, Hot Country and Country Airplay chart simultaneously and just the seventh country song solely recorded by a woman to go #1 on the Hot 100 in the history of the chart. And in addition to making several appearances on the stage to accept her many awards, Ella also performer her song “Be Her,” which was included on her recent sophomore album Dandelion, and she wrote it with HARDY, Smith Ahnquist and Jordan Schmidt. The lyrics are quite honest as Ella looking inward and examines the kind of woman she wants to be, and what it might take to get there. She is seeking simplicity over drama, clearly longing to be comfortable in her own skin, and Ella’s co-writer Hardy says he knew it would be a hit from the very beginning, and it only took them 30 minutes to write because they were really onto something quickly. And during an interview with Katie Neal for her Katie & Company radio show, Ella explained that it while it does have an anthemic, fun sing along feel, it does tackle some pretty deep subject matter, and it’s really an admission of the type of woman she hopes to grow into: “And that song, what it’s about, truly, is it’s not about being someone else, it’s about being the her you want to be. I think there’s things that every single person on this planet would like to see themselves do better as a human being, you know what I mean? If you don’t, I do not want to be around you. I do not want to be around you at all. I was just honest, those are all things that I’m looking forward to, in my life, changing about myself a little bit.” Ella says the lyrics really are her truth, admitting that she knows “a whole bottle of wine is probably too much a lot of the time and “one glass could suffice”: “I want to stay in my Bible, I want to not have to do a whole bottle of wine, one glass could suffice, you know what I mean? Like, why do you have to go so far? What’s wrong with you? Finding someone to love and to support and to have a safe place in this world. And those are all things a normal 26-year-old girl or guy, or whoever in your life, whether it be those things specifically, I think everyone can just relate to bettering yourself and wanting to see that version. With that song, you just have to give into that thing, it’s not about we are who we are, yes, we understand that, but give into it… be her. You know what? I’m her tonight. I am her tonight.” I love the contrast of incredible raw, heartfelt lyrics with such a fun, funky track, but there’s just something about the acoustic rendition that I like so much better… the studio cut is super catchy, but I’ll be really honest, sometimes I can only listen to the chorus so many times before it starts to get a little annoying. Something about it just doesn’t always hit my ear right, and I think the more stripped back arrangement fits the song SO much better. The lyrics really are heartfelt and meaningful, and when Ella sings it like she did at the ACM Awards, it just resonates so differently and I think the real heart of the song comes across much more effortlessly. The original is a bop for sure, but I’m pretty sure I will always be partial to an honest country song with a simple production that allows the artistry of a song as good as “Be Her” to shine. I have no idea if Ella has plans to ever put out an official acoustic version, but she really should… this was just perfection: “Be Her” The post We Need Ella Langley To Release The Acoustic Rendition Of “Be Her” Because It Just Hits Different first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

President Trump is hammering Senate Republicans for keeping the Democrat-appointed parliamentarian in place, with the reconciliation bill coming soon. He’s not calling out Leader Thune by name, which I think means he’s . . .

President Trump was asked whether we should expect escalation with Cuba after the Raul Castro indictment earlier today. Here’s what he said: I’m not sure I believe him. For all we know, . . .

The Justice Department indicted the former Cuban President Raúl Castro on charges including murder Wednesday, marking another significant escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against the Cuban government. Castro, along with five other Cuban leaders, is being charged with seven counts, including four counts of murder, for his alleged role in Cuba’s shooting down of two planes in 1996. The planes were flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue, an organization that regularly flew planes over the waters between Cuba and the United States in an effort to help Cuban refugees seeking to escape to the U.S. On one such flight in February 1996, the Cuban armed forces shot down two of the organization’s planes with missiles, killing three American citizens and one U.S. resident. Cuba asserted that the planes were in Cuban airspace conducting surveillance for the American government, an allegation the U.S. denied. The indictment was returned by a grand jury on April 23 and unsealed Wednesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters at a press conference.  “Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability,” Blanche said. “President Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle: if you kill Americans … we will pursue you no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.” The current president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, wrote in a post on social media that the charges are “without any judicial basis” and demonstrate “the arrogance and the frustration that is provoked among the representatives of empire by the unbreakable firmness of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership.” Castro, who is 94, now rarely appears in public but reputedly retains significant influence over Cuban leadership. The post U.S. Indicts Raúl Castro for Murder appeared first on The American Conservative.

The slang term “slop” is increasingly used online to describe low-quality content. Here’s what it means and where it came from.

The May 19 results exposed two coalition problems for America's major parties. As President Donald Trump's Republicans punished conservative independence—even a voice that was for the most part pro-MAGA—Democratic messaging on affordability collided with their own tax-and-spend governing model.