What if I told you that the roots of the “Bro-country” movement possibly go way back in 2001? It’s the period of country music that a lot of artists are ashamed of… but also brought plenty of acts a lot of money. It’s generally believed to have been created in the early 2010s, and peaked in 2013 with the release of Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise.” Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard are often credited with starting the trend of “Bro-country” and it’s signature sound, and 2013 is also when the term was first coined. If they weren’t the ones that birthed the style, they sure did make a lot of money off of it. They weren’t the only artists that took advantage of the explosion of more pop-leaning country music. Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Jake Owen – among others – also made sure to strike while the iron was hot. In fact, Jake Owen has even said in the past that he believes he’s the one who started Bro-country with his 2011 song “Barefoot Blue Jean Night.” In his defense, it does predate Florida Georgia Line’s earworm. And it does line up when you look at who produced Jake Owen’s 2011 album by the same name as his aforementioned, potentially Bro-country-kindling hit song. Joey Moi, a Canadian producer and audio engineer who famously worked alongside Canadian rock band Nickelback, produced Barefoot Blue Jean Night for Jake Owen. Moi also went on to produce Florida Georgia Line, Chris Lane, Morgan Wallen, and Hardy, along with some others. You could even make the argument that Trace Adkins’ 2005 hit, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” written by Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson and Dallas Davidson, was the first real Bro-country song. But I actually believe you can draw the origins back to a song that was almost released by Blake Shelton before he punted on it and it landed in the hands of a country music great. Ladies and gentlemen… “I Wanna Talk About Me” by Toby Keith, which released in 2001, could have actually been the “patient zero” of Bro-country. If you’ve never heard the story of how the song came to be, Shelton had recorded the song that was written for him by songwriter Bobby Braddock, and was ready to release it. But focus groups were not fans of the pacing, or the spoken-word style, so the record label told Shelton that not only should he not release it as a single… he shouldn’t even put it on his album. And maybe the focus groups were thrown off by it because it didn’t sound like anything else in the realm of country music. Could it have been that those that got to listen to it early weren’t ready for the “Bro-country” sound that the fast-paced “country rap” song brought to the table? How could they have not liked it? The chorus of the tune that later became a mega-hit for Toby Keith is as catchy as they come: “I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about IWanna talk about number one, oh my, me myWhat I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I seeI like talking about you, you, you, you usuallyBut occasionally, I wanna talk about meI wanna talk about me.” The way Toby Keith sings that last “me” of the chorus hits hard every single time. The song that acted as the second single from Keith’s 2001 Pull My Chain album went on to become one of the most successful songs of the 2000s. And if you look at how it’s put together, it sounds a whole lot like some of the bigger songs of the “Bro-country” era. There just wasn’t a name for it (and a bunch of other artists jumping in on it) in the early 2000s. And while this song itself isn’t all that Bro-country in terms of a formulaic, laundry list of redneck buzzwords, it did prove that you could have a massive, massive hit with a rather silly, rap-country tune. Plus, it was in the Big Dog Daddy’s catalogue, and no one would have ever accused him of being a pop-country artist. That being said, “I Wanna Talk About Me” could have very well laid the foundation for the house of “Bro-country” that was built over a decade later. “I Wanna Talk About Me” The post The Surprising Song That May Have Accidentally Laid The Groundwork For The Bro-Country Movement first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

The official trailer is here. Eric Church is gearing up to release his first-ever theater concert film experience with  Eric Church: Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive, which is in partnership with IMAX. It will be in select movie theaters in the U.S. and Canada on Friday, February 13, 2026, and Saturday, February 14, 2026. IMAX is one of the leading movie-watching formats both here in the U.S. and worldwide. With larger, curved screens, an expanded aspect ratio, higher quality digital mastering of images and better sound systems, IMAX aims for a more immersive experience compared to your standard theater As for Eric Church: Evangeline vs. The Machine Comes Alive itself, it will capture both of the North Carolina native’s sold-out nights at The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee back in May, complete with all the offerings from the Free The Machine Tour such as his six-piece backing band and his newly added horn, string and choir section. And today, he released the official trailer on TODAY, giving fans a preview of what’s to come in theaters this February. Of course, he ran through hits like “Give Me Back My Hometown,” “Sinners Like Me” and “Springsteen,” which were all reimagined with a six-piece band, four-piece horns, four-piece strings, eight-piece choir and vocalist Joanna Cotten, so it’s going to be an incredible experience to see and hear it all in such an enhanced way, outside of being at the actual concert itself. Eric says he wanted to break it “wide open” and give fans a truly special experience with seeing it in IMAX: “This project was never about fitting into a box – it’s about breaking the damn thing wide open. Seeing it in IMAX takes that to another level. The scale and sound experience is like nothing else.” Of course, Eric puts on some of the best concerts in the business, so it will be really neat to see it on the big screen, and you can watch the full trailer here: Check it out: Eric will continue his Free The Machine Tour 24 newly announced 2026 dates, which picks back up in January after this weekend ends the first leg. 2025 Free the Machine Tour Nov. 14 || Fresno, Calif. || SaveMart Center || Charles Wesley Godwin Nov. 15 || Inglewood, Calif. || Intuit Dome || Charles Wesley Godwin 2026 Free the Machine Tour Jan. 22 || Washington, D.C. || The Anthem || Caylee Hammack Jan. 23 || Washington, D.C. || The Anthem || Caylee Hammack Feb. 5 || Omaha, Neb. || CHI Health Center || Ella Langley Feb. 6 || Sioux Falls, S.D. || Denny Sanford PREMIER Center || Ella Langley Feb. 7 || St. Paul, Minn. || Grand Casino Arena || Ella Langley Feb. 12 || Toronto, Ont. || Scotiabank Arena || Ella Langley Feb. 13 || Buffalo, N.Y. || KeyBank Center || Ella Langley Feb. 14 || Albany, N.Y. || MVP Arena || Ella Langley Feb. 19 || North Little Rock, Ark. || Simmons Bank Arena || 49 Winchester Feb. 20 || Kansas City, Mo. || T-Mobile Center || 49 Winchester Feb. 21 || St. Louis, Mo. || Enterprise Center || 49 Winchester Feb. 26 || Tulsa, Okla. || BOK Center || Stephen Wilson Jr. Feb. 27 || Fort Worth, Texas || Dickies Arena || Stephen Wilson Jr. Feb. 28 || Austin, Texas || Moody Center || Stephen Wilson Jr. Mar. 5 || Knoxville, Tenn. || Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center || 49 Winchester Mar. 6 || Greensboro, N.C. || First Horizon Coliseum || 49 Winchester Mar. 7 || North Charleston, S.C. || North Charleston Coliseum || 49 Winchester Mar. 19 || Birmingham, Ala. || Legacy Arena at the BJCC || 49 Winchester Mar. 20 || Atlanta, Ga. || State Farm Arena || 49 Winchester Mar. 27 || Hollywood, Fla. || Hard Rock Live || Kashus Culpepper Apr. 3 || Greenville, S.C. || Bon Secours Wellness Arena || Ashley McBryde Apr. 4 || Charlotte, N.C. || Spectrum Center || Ashley McBryde Apr. 10 || Jacksonville, Fla. || VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena || Ashley McBryde Apr. 11 || Tampa, Fla. || Benchmark International Arena || Ashley McBrydeThe post Eric Church Releases Official Trailer for ‘Evangeline vs. The Machine: Comes Alive’ IMAX Film first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Zach Bryan let the world know how he really feels about awards shows after being snubbed from the 2022 Country Music Association Awards. It’s funny that some of the biggest country music artists in the world are often excluded from country music awards shows – and sometimes even by choice. You likely won’t ever see the likes of Morgan Wallen and/or Zach Bryan sitting in the crowd at the ACMs or the CMAs. On nights where country music takes center stage and artists are rewarded for their contributions, the “big fish” of the genre often view the proceedings as unnecessary and meaningless. Heck, Wallen even skipped the 2025 ACM Awards to play golf with Tom Brady. And Zach Bryan has similarly decided to skip out on awards shows as of late. His decision to pass on country music awards nights likely has to do with his initial exclusion from the CMA Awards when he started to break out in 2022. Zach made his major label debut that year with his album American Heartbreak, which if you don’t remember, sent him on a rocket ship soaring to the very top of country music fame. His rise was unlike anything we’ve seen in the modern country music world, yet it apparently wasn’t enough for him to score a “New Artist of the Year” nomination at the 2022 CMA Awards. When the country music singer-songwriter found out that he had been excluded from the awards show, he addressed it all in a in a series of posts on X (then called “tweets”). While they are no longer available because Zach Bryan is a chronic social media deleter, we here at Whiskey Riff transcribed them while they were still up in 2022, and here’s what he had to say: “Guys, I don’t and will never want to be considered at the CMAs. My pride is fine and I appreciate all the love and support and I say it with every ounce of respect to other country artists To be clear, I’m not trying to insult the validity of a CMA, I respect any artist who receives one and the existence of them; I’m just saying on a personal level it is not one of my priorities to have awards on a shelf in my home. There’s room for more important things there. I think there are so many talented artist that deserve awarded and will be awarded, and some just don’t care enough about a silly TV program to need an award in the first place.” Surprisingly, Zach Bryan was nominated for “New Artist” the very next year at the CMA Awards, but did not end up winning. However, he has taken home some awards to put on his non-existent awards shelf since this rant against the CMAs. Bryan won “New Male Artist of the Year” at the 2023 ACM Awards, and he also took home a Grammy in 2024 for “Best Country Duo/Group Performance” for his work with Kacey Musgraves on the hit track “I Remember Everything.” An award given to him by the Country Music Association still eludes Zach Bryan… but that clearly doesn’t bother him if he still feels the same way he did when he proclaimed that he never wants to be considered by the CMAs for an award. He’s not nominated for anything at the 2025 CMAs, so it looks like the organization is still hard at work fulfilling his request to never be considered.The post CMA Awards 2022: Zach Bryan Says He Never Wants To Be Nominated For CMAs first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

President Trump is providing tariff relief on food items coming from countries like Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador, in order to ease food prices. As the US Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer . . .

President Trump just slammed ‘weak Republicans’ over falling for the Democrat hoax on Epstein, saying they are ‘soft and foolish’. He explains that Epstein is the Democrat’s problem and not one Republicans . . .

Hunter Biden weighed in the Charlie Kirk assassination in a podcast with someone I’ve never heard of, claiming Charlie Kirk wasn’t shot because of his beliefs, but he was a Nick Fuentes . . .

You might know all the countries, but can you name their capitals?

For everyone who never misses their favorite shows, even if that means eating turkey in front of the TV.