Hillbilly Live!

Love her or hate her…the has made a name for herself in music. And she’s got the broken records and massive fan base to prove that.

I’m not really surprised by this news. Taylor Swift was announced on Monday (8/11/26) as the youngest inductee ever to join the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. She’s 36. She was chosen for the Contemporary Songwriter/Artists category. 

She beat out fellow nominees Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, and Phil Vassar. I mean she’s pretty well known too.

Taylor said, “from the time I started writing songs as a child, I fixated on Nashville as the perfect place to be. I wanted to learn with and from the best and get to immerse myself in a community of storytellers…

And thankfully Nashville turned out to be exactly what I’d dreamed of. A town that validated and prioritized hard work, determination and imagination…to be honored by this city I love so much is a beautiful thing, and I’m very grateful.”

Side note. Taylor also recently became the youngest woman ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Other inductees to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame include Lyle Lovett, Bruce Channel, Shawn Camp, and Lee Thomas Miller. The induction ceremony will take place sometime this fall.

View this post on Instagram

This man had a hell of a career to say the least.

Alan Jackson was honored at his last show in Nashville with a plaque by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over 85.5 million units in the U.S. throughout his career. He’s now one of the Top 10 highest-selling country artists.

He also picked up 28 new RIAA certifications, including “Chattahoochee” going 5x Platinum, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” going 5x Platinum, and “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” going Platinum.

His plaque is on display at the Alan Jackson Museum in Nashville as well.

View this post on Instagram

Country albums deserve an album release show…and especially at a legendary honky tonk like this.

Miranda Lambert’s next album, “Crisco”, is due out October 2nd.  And she announced that she’ll have an album release show a few days later on October 6th at the world’s largest honkey tonk, Billy Bob’s Texas.

She said, “when I was in the studio recording ‘Crisco’, I kept picturing the rhinestone saddle at Billy Bob’s. It’s the perfect visual for a country disco album: honky tonk with some extra rhinestones and shine.

I’ve played some of my all-time favorite shows at Billy Bob’s and it felt like the best place to bring everyone together to have fun and live out the feeling of this album.”

Tickets will go on sale Friday (8/14/26).

View this post on Instagram

They are finally going on tour again y’all!

Sugarland is back. They announced a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their second album, “Enjoy the Ride”. The “Ride Or Die Tour” will officially kick off October 21, 2026 in St. Augustine, FL and wraps up on November 21, 2026, in Dallas, Texas.

That album’s lead single “Want To” became Sugarland’s first #1 hit on the U.S. country charts, and their single, “Settlin’”, made it to the top of the charts, too.

Jennifer Nettles said, “Enjoy the Ride was such a turning point album. It literally catapulted us onto the ride of our lives with a carnival of hits and a life on the Road.”

Pre-sale starts Wednesday, August 12, 2026, at 10:00 AM local time. Then the general public ticket sales will open on Friday, August 14, 2026, at 10:00 AM local time. And for everything Sugarland, please visit sugarlandmusic.com.

View this post on Instagram

I think it’s safe to say that Tracy Lawrence isn’t a fan California and their affordability.

He was guest on the “Like a Farmer” podcast gave his thoughts and said it is very “disheartening” to visit California as of now. He pointed out he really doesn’t like traveling to California despite having to go there for work.

He said, “I had a couple of different acting coaches that I was working with over the last several years, but I mean, it’s just weird going out to California these days, man. It’s kind of … it’s disheartening. I just kind of pulled the plug on all that stuff,”

Tracy said the state itself is absolutely beautiful, there are things about California that he just doesn’t like. For one, it’s very expensive to go there between gas and taxes. And those are just facts.

He went to say, “we’re looking at $10 a gallon just for gas. You know, take a fleet of buses out there and your trucks and stuff and go out there and try to promote shows. They tax you to death. The economy out there is awful. You know, the price of fuel and just getting in and out of the states are tremendous.”

He also added that performing in the state is “basically as difficult and as unprofitable as going into Canada right now.”

Tracy tries to keep politics away from music. Like he’s said before…music “is supposed to be one of those things that brings us all together.” The problem is…is that politics affects us all in some way. And taxes is to death is going fix our problems.

It’s another week in this woman’s world.

Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” is now the longest running non-holiday #1 by any female artist in the HOT 100’s chart history (17 weeks). It now surpasses Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit, “One Sweet Day”.

“Choosin’ Texas” now holds three of the four longest running #1 hits in the Hot 100 history, as “Choosin’ Texas” earns a 17th week at #1 too.

If this song of Ella’s can get to 23 weeks on the Billboard HOT 100 and beat Mariah’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, it will beat every record of a song that made it to the top of that chart and sat there for multiple weeks. I believe it can happen too.

Ella Langley's "Choosin’ Texas" is now the longest running non-holiday #1 by any female artist in Hot 100 history (17 weeks).

It surpasses "One Sweet Day". pic.twitter.com/lrXUBMaJxy

— chart data (@chartdata) August 10, 2026

This past Sunday would’ve been a great day show up at church in Tennessee.

This woman gave her fellow church members a free show on Sunday August 9, 2026. Carrie Underwood joined the worship team on Sunday at the Rolling Hills Community Church in Tennessee. She performed Hillsong Worship’s “What a Beautiful Name”.

This isn’t anything new. She’s known to get behind the mic on occasion, like earlier this year on Easter and during the holidays.

About damn time the Opry sent this invite out. He deserves this.

Charlie Worsham was officially invited to become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry by country music icon Vince Gill on August 7, 2026. Vince is also a hero of Charlie’s…so to get that invite from him alone was pretty special.

The surprise took place on the stage of Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium during Vince Gill’s residency show.

The invitation fell exactly on the 20th anniversary of Charlie moving to Nashville to pursue his music career.
The big news also coincided with the release of Charlie’s brand-new album, “Once Upon a Second Time Around”.

Charlie has played a lot of albums that have come out of Nashville. He’s been tapped to play on Eric Church’s, Kacey Musgraves‘, Luke Combs’ and Lainey Wilson’s albums to name a few. He also toured with Dierks Bentley and had spot the in Hot Country Knights, arguably one of the best bands to ever grace country music. Now he’s getting his place as an official member of the Grand Ole Opry.

View this post on Instagram

This is what happens country music stops in Toronto.

Chris Stapleton surprised fans in Toronto Thursday night by bringing out Mr. Country himself, Zach Top. They performed a cover of “I Ain’t Living Long Like This”.  You know, Waylon Jennings’ hit, which was actually also a cover.

The song was originally written by Rodney Crowell, and was first recorded by Gary Stewart in 1977. Then Emmylou Harris covered it before Waylon did his version in 1978. Now I don’t get ahead of myself here, but Chris and Zach might as well record their own version of it. After hearing their version…I’d buy it if they put that out.

This is what they mean when they say “you have to be prepared.”

Billy Strings was performing in Indiana on Thursday (8/6/26) night when he was hit in the head by an object. Someone in the crowd threw what’s believed to be a lighter, and Billy was not having it.

He didn’t storm off, but he did say, “why the f*ck would you throw something at me? Is your dick really that small?”

So, at Friday night’s show, he came out onstage wearing a hockey helmet. The helmet belonged to Indiana’s minor league hockey team, the Indy Fuel.