Zach Top recently fit a trip to the OK Kids Korral into his schedule. Though the world tragically lost Toby Keith back in February of 2024, the music and the legacy he left behind will live on forever. Toby loved being a country music star, but he arguably loved giving back even more. Keith launched his foundation (The Toby Keith Foundation) in 2006, and through that and many other charitable acts, he was always able to utilize his platform to help those that were less fortunate. Around the same time that Toby Keith started his foundation in 2006, he decided that he wanted to provide cost-free housing for kids with cancer families. So he and his foundation got to work with the OK Kids Korral, which opened in 2013. The foundation’s website describes the facility as the following: “OK Kids Korral helps make life a little easier for children with cancer by providing a safe, convenient, and hopeful place for families to connect with each other and focus on the well-being of their child.” The cost-free housing can host 16 families at once, and provides them all with private bedrooms and shared living and dining areas. Since it’s designed for pediatric cancer patients, it also boasts indoor and outdoor play areas, along with many other fun features to give children an escape from their cancer treatments. It’s a truly wonderful place for families that are going through such a scary time of their lives. A modern artist that seems to be following in the big footprints left behind by the Big Dog Daddy is neotraditional country music star Zach Top. He’s currently out on his Cold Beer and Country Music Tour, and just a couple of weeks ago when he was in Oklahoma City for one of his concerts, Top took some time to visit the OK Kids Korral. In pictures that were posted by the Toby Keith Foundation, Zach Top can be seen talking and visiting with children that are staying at the facility, and it looks like he signed a cowboy hat or two while he was there as well. Hopefully Top helped provide some comfort to the families that are there while they collectively fight pediatric cancer. The OK Kids Korral was certainly appreciative of the rising country star stopping by: “We couldn’t be more thankful that Zach Top took time out of his busy schedule to visit children battling cancer at OK Kids Korral.” Zach Top is a class act. If you were wanting to know more about the OK Kids Korral, I thought it might be nice for you to hear from the Big Dog Daddy himself. This video below is from the facility’s grand opening in 2013. In it, Keith talks about how the cost-free-housing came to be, and the close-to-home cancer story involving his close friend and former guitarist, Scott Webb, that inspired he and his foundation to build the OK Kids Korral: “10 years ago when Scott and Linda lost their two-year-old, they came back from St. Jude’s in a last ditch effort to save their child’s life. They said they didn’t know what to take, they didn’t know how long they were going to be there. When they got back, they said they found out when they got there that they didn’t need anything. They had this type of facility and St. Jude’s leads the way on that. So it was… we need one here in Oklahoma and it was kind of a calling by God for me. It was like, ‘I’ve got my foundation, I raise money, now what am I gonna do with it?’ So this place was built with that kind of love.” The post Zach Top Visited Pediatric Cancer Patients & Their Families At The Toby Keith’s OK Kids Korral first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Another country crossover on the horizon. These days, it seems as if country and folk have never been closer together. In addition to major young stars such as Zach Bryan, Sam Barber, Evan Honer, Dylan Gossett and more rising in the genre with a folk-centric sound, we’ve seen a plethora of major folk artists cross over into the country world as of late. Lately, none other than Mumford & Sons has been the latest folk staple to cross over into country, making appearances with the likes of Luke Combs, Sierra Ferrell, Lainey Wilson and more over the course of the past few months. In August, they collaborated with Lainey Wilson when they brought her out for a surprise performance of Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” at their New Orleans show, along with Molly Tuttle, during their brief, train-hopping Railroad Revival Tour. In September, they were featured predominantly during the Grand Ole Opry’s historic, first-ever international show in London at the Royal Albert Hall, along with the likes of Luke Combs, Darius Rucker, Ashley McBryde and more. Serving as a bridge between London and the U.S., frontman, Marcus Mumford, would join Luke Combs for a stellar cover of Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind” at the event. Just last week, they brought out Wilson and Ferrell again during their show at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, performing Wilson’s “Things A Man Oughta Know” and Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You” with the “In Dreams” singer. With so many appearances with country superstars recently, especially over the past few months, many (myself included) were wondering if Mumford and Co. were signalling a potential full crossover into the genre due to the prominence and subsequent fusion of both country and folk over the past few years. As it turns out, Mumford & Sons are not fully diving into country music heading into the new year. With that being said, however, they’re calling upon none other than Chris Stapleton to be featured on the first track of their upcoming album, Prizefighter, which is set to release on February 13, 2026. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mumford & Sons (@mumfordandsons) Prizefighter marks the sixth studio album from the English band and will feature the likes of Stapleton, Gracie Abrams, Gigi Perez and Hozier, who appeared on the record’s lead single released last week, “Rubber Band Man.” This time around, Mumford is calling upon rock band, The Anthem’s, Aaron Dessner as co-writer and co-producer, marking the first time the pair have worked together since 2015’s Wilder Mind. Discussing the album, Mumford described Prizefighter as a culmination of their career so far. He’d also describe the record as “going for it,” promising that it will cover a wide range of emotion while simultaneously being grounded in hope.  “We feel like we’re hitting our prime as a creative force. We’re putting everything we have into this now, and we’re using everything about our experience so far to embrace exactly who we are. We’re comfortable in our skins these days. And ‘Prizefighter’ is us going for it—serious and playful, sometimes bruised and always hopeful. We’re nowhere near done yet. I hope and believe we’re in the beginning of something we don’t want to let up on. I’m more excited to be in this band than I’ve ever been.”  As for Stapleton’s inclusion on the album, he will appear on Prizefighter‘s opening track, “Here,” which marks the first time Mumford & Sons have featured a country artist on any of their six studio albums. Personally, I can’t think of a better choice than Stapleton. At this point, we all know how versatile both Stapleton and Mumford are, and the possibilities are honestly endless regarding the sonic style of “Here.” Regardless of what direction they take, it’s bound to be a stellar outing come February. Prizefighter Tracklist: 1. Here (with Chris Stapleton) 2. Rubber Band Man (with Hozier) 3. The Banjo Song 4. Run Together 5. Conversation With My Son 6. Alleycat 7. Prizefighter 8. Begin Again 9. Icarus (with Gigi Perez) 10. Stay 11. Badlands (with Gracie Abrams) 12. Shadow Of A Man 13. I’ll Tell You Everything 14. Clove Check out their lead single with Hozier, “Rubber Band Man,” here: Mumford & Sons Tour Dates November 6—Stockholm, Sweden—Avicii Arena# November 8—Copenhagen, Denmark—Royal Arena# November 10—Berlin, Germany—Uber Arena# November 12—Cologne, Germany—LANXESS Arena+ November 13—Antwerp, Belgium—Antwerps Sportpaleis+ November 14—Paris, France—Adidas Arena# November 16—Luxembourg, Luxembourg—Rockhal+ November 17—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Ziggo Dome# November 19—Bologna, Italy—Unipol Arena+ November 20—Zurich, Switzerland—Hallenstadion+ November 21—Milan, Italy—Unipol Forum+ November 23—Barcelona, Spain—Palau Sant Jordi+ November 25—Lisbon, Portugal—Sagres Campo Pequeno+ November 29—Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.—Utilita Arena* (SOLD OUT) November 30—Leeds, U.K.—First Direct Arena* (SOLD OUT) December 2—Glasgow, U.K.—OVO Hydro* (SOLD OUT) December 3—Manchester, U.K.—Co-op Live* (SOLD OUT) December 5—Sheffield, U.K.—Utilita Arena* (SOLD OUT) December 7—Birmingham, U.K.—Utilita Arena Birmingham* (SOLD OUT) December 8—Cardiff, U.K.—Utilita Arena Cardiff* (SOLD OUT) December 10—London, U.K.—The O2* (SOLD OUT) December 11—London, U.K.—The O2* (SOLD OUT) December 27—San Diego, CA—Wild Horses Festival January 8-11—Cancun, Mexico—Out of the Blue Festival February 20-22—Tempe, AZ—Innings Festival #with special guests The Vaccines + The Barr Brothers +with special guest The Vaccines *with special guest Sierra FerrellThe post Chris Stapleton To Be Featured On Mumford & Sons’ Upcoming Album, “Prizefighter” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Buckle up. Morgan Wallen has been dropping hints that a 2026 tour is going to be announced soon, and this morning, his earlier this week his fan club account on Instagram shared a cryptic new video that some sort of announcement is coming soon. Morgan shared that to his own Instagram stories, and the video was pretty bare, and the only text reads: “System loading.” And it also features lines of red dashes, which as it turns out is Morse code for “Still The Problem.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Club Wallen (@clubwallen) The website stilltheproblem.com contains a countdown to tomorrow, October 30 at 8 AM central time, and a link at the bottom of the page directs to tour promoter AEG, seemingly confirming that it’s something to do with a tour. And ahead of the announcement, several stadiums appear to be teasing stops from the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year. Several venues across the country have posted a similar football, which contains what appears to be a bear in a coonskin cap and a uniform featuring the letters “MW.” For example, here’s the one posted by Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So far, the stadiums (or athletic departments) that have posted teasers include: Acrisure Stadium (Pittsburgh Steelers) – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore Ravens) – Baltimore, Maryland Soldier Field (Chicago Bears) – Chicago, Illinois Mile High Stadium (Denver Broncos) – Denver, Colorado Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia Eagles) – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings) – Minneapolis, Minnesota Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas Raiders) – Las Vegas, Nevada Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis Colts) – Indianapolis, Indiana Michigan Stadium (University of Michigan) – Ann Arbor, Michigan Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (University of Florida) – Gainesville, Florida There may be more that I’ve missed, but so far those are the ones that I’ve seen posted. And with Morgan playing two nights in each city on his past couple of tours, that would be 20 shows on his 2026 tour, which is about what he did in 2025. Of course the stop at the University of Michigan is the one that immediately caught my eye. Zach Bryan recently set the record for the largest-attended ticketed concert in the United States with his stop at Michigan Stadium, so you’ve gotta wonder if Morgan will be able to break that record with his show. Morgan wrapped up his I’m The Problem tour in September, which was of course named for his his monster 37-song album also released this year. He played at stadiums all over the country, and several in Canada, and I’m sure whatever venues are on this list will be just as big and exciting. He has stayed busy while out on the road too, releasing a couple new music videos over the last month or so for “I Got Better,” as well as his current single “20 Cigarettes.” Additionally, he released his cover of Nothing But Thieves’ song “Graveyard Whistling” on streaming platforms everywhere, as it was previously only available as an Amazon Music exclusive. The name of the tour could also hint at the possibility of a deluxe album to accompany his 2025 release I’m The Problem. Of course the album already had 36 songs, so I’m not sure how much more he could fit on there, but that’s a conversation for another day. Either way, I’d expect a tour announcement tomorrow morning containing at least those 10 cities that have posted teasers so far. And if you don’t see your city on the list, maybe it’s just the beginning. We’ll find out tomorrow.The post Stadiums Post Teasers For Morgan Wallen’s Upcoming “Still The Problem” Tour Announcement first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Senate Majority Leader Thune lost it today on the Senate floor after a Democrat claimed that people with SNAP benefits shouldn’t go without food and people shouldn’t go without pay. He literally . . .

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year as it seeks to boost economic activity and rejuvenate the sluggish labor market despite concerns about persistent inflation. But far from having a clear way forward, disagreements within the Fed's policy-setting committee and warnings from Chair Jerome Powell highlight the complicated challenges that the U.S. central bank faces from an economy that offers little certainty. "What do you do if you’re driving in the fog?" Powell asked at a press conference following the Fed's announcement. "You slow down."...