Hillbilly Live!

Lainey Wilson is back as the host of the 2026 CMA Awardsz

This will also be her third straight year hosting country music’s biggest night, and her second consecutive year hosting solo. I mean she knows what she’s doing when it comes to hosting now y’all.

The 12-time CMA Award winner announced the news live Saturday morning on ESPN’s College Gameday, which was hosted in Lainey’s home state of Louisiana ahead of the matchup between Louisiana State University and Clemson University in Baton Rouge.

Lainey said, “I couldn’t be more excited to be hosting the CMA Awards again this year, especially with it being the 60th anniversary. I’ve had so much fun hosting the last two years, and this one’s going to be extra special. Can’t wait to see y’all in November!”

The 60th annual CMA Awards will be airing live on ABC November 18, 2026. And the nominations for this year’s awards will be announced Thursday September 10th.

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20 farms across North America have created corn mazes to honor Dolly Parton and the 31st anniversary of her Imagination Library.  They’re across 15 states and two Canadian provinces.

The mazes were in the works months ago.

Before her passing Dolly said, “I’m grateful for the support of my Imagination Library and am excited to invite people out to get lost in this year’s country music corn maze for a little fun, laughter and “A real good reason to get lost.”

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A portion of the ticket proceeds will be donated to the Imagination Library. The mazes will be an interactive trivia game to test guests on their Dolly knowledge. There will also be themed photo ops, storytelling, music, and farm fun. You can even see photos of some of the mazes here too.

In other Dolly news, her cousin Richie Owens, who is also the Parton family historian, went on the “Today” show. He said how Dolly kept her cancer battle private, and even he didn’t know the extent of her health struggles.

He said, “she always kept things private because she always wanted to keep everybody being positive around her and put that out there in the world. Just, ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m going to be fine.’ Just show the love.”

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Randy Travis’s last full album, “Around the Bend”, was released back in 2008. And as you know, Randy suffered a near-fatal stroke in July of 2013 which left him struggling to both sing and speak.

Randy and his team has been gearing up to release his first album of original recordings in 18 years. It’s lost songs that were remixed or remastered by his longtime producer. The first single from the album was released on Friday (7/10/26) and it’s called “Fish On”. 

Now we know the title and when Randy’s new album will be here thanks to Randy’s socials. Randy’s new album, “Same Old Way”, will be available November 13, 2026. You can also hear three songs from the album now, which are “Fish On”, “I Don’t Care” and the title track, ”Same Old Way”.

“This is the first album of completely new material that Randy has released in over 18 years, full of tracks that span Randy’s distinguished recording career from 1986 to 2013!

Today’s announcement comes with the release of the title track, “Same Old Way,” penned by Travis with his longtime producer and friend, Kyle Lehning. It is the only song the pair has written together, and the first time Lehning has had a major songwriting credit.

Following his 2013 stroke, fans and music industry insiders alike weren’t sure that a project like this would ever be possible again, but Randy continues to make history, and this album is living proof of that. Lehning uncovered the tracks on this album after years of them being locked away in the vault. He assembled, remixed, and remastered the recordings with Randy’s input, giving the world 12 more original Randy Travis songs and bringing back his iconic, irreplaceable voice that still holds true to this day.”

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He might want to knock the shit out of the song writers of this song first.

Luke Bryan is fed up with the A.I. accusations behind his song “Fish Hunt Golf Drink”.  On Theo Von’s podcast, he shared a message to his online haters. He said, “if I see you one day, I’m gonna f*cking knock the shit out of you…

People have lost their minds.” I mean people can hear and it sounds like a drunk three old wrote the song. It’s catching but I know what I hear.

The real late great country music outlaw has one more album coming y’all.

David Allan Coe passed away in April at the age of 86. Yesterday, his team announced that his final album will be released next month on October 16th. It’s called “A Million Reasons”, and it was actually recorded in 2017.

It’ll include a new version of “You Never Even Called Me by My Name”, which is out now. The track list also includes an opening track with an introduction from wrestling legend Ric Flair and a Johnny Cash tribute.

The University of Tennessee football team will carry a little piece of Dolly Parton onto the field this season.

The Volunteers just announced that players will wear orange butterfly helmet stickers at every game this year.  And written on the butterfly is the word “Dolly”.

Head coach Josh Heupel called her the “Queen of East Tennessee”.  And then went on to praise her for the impact she’s had…not just in Tennessee, but all across the country.

In the past, Dolly has delivered the school’s commencement address…received an honorary doctorate…and performed on campus many times during her tour stops. Dolly will always be a Volunteer. In this life and the next.  

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(People)

Welcome to Friday September 4, 2026!

We have some new country music for your playlist. Please do your part and visit your neighborhood liquor store to pair your whiskey with this new country music as well. Its country music is meant to be enjoyed.

Projects (Albums & EPs):

Benjamin Tod – “Country Is Dead”
Vince Gill – “50 Years From Home: Stillwater Night”
Logan Crosby – “Sincerely”
Ethan Garner– “The Georgia Kid”
Cole Barnhill & Sterling Elza – “Country Album of the Year”
Josh Mitcham – “Gonna Be Alright”

Singles:

Kane Brown feat. Shania Twain – “Boots”
Hudson Westbrook – “The Joker”
Gavin Adcock – “One Hell Of A Steal”
Waylon Wyatt, Carter Faith – “I’m Sorry But I Love You”
Kameron Marlowe – “I Won’t”
Gabby Barrett – “Every Minute Of It”
Justin Moore – “Missing You Night”
Dustin Lynch – “Made In A Bottle”
Kassi Ashton – “Chrome Pony”
Owen Riegling – “Me Without My Hometown”
Thelma & James – “The Way That It Wasn’t”
Grace Tyler – “Better Than That”
Zach Meadows – “Backstreet Baby”
Roc Helton – “Pain Longs For Me”
Sicily Rose – “Family Tree”
Bo Staloch – “I Won’t Be There Waiting For You”
Kyle Gates – “Cold Beer Sold Here”
Karissa Ella – “Working Man”
Carlisle Wright – “Wright Kinda Country”
Ella Hooper – “Cowboy Man”
Paige Rose – “Set the Pace”
Tanner Laws – “Little Country Wedding”
Marcus Hummon – “Like A Rolling Stone”
Clay Barker – “Been In That Boat”
Graham St. Clair Band – “Bad Guy”
Schmitty – “Hang It Up”
Sons of Legion – “Matrix”

I don’t skateboard…but as a dad…I feel personally attacked by the video posted by ESPN.

This poor girl watched her make an ass out himself. And she probably thinks her dad mentally retarded too.

This is what they mean by fresh hamburgers.

This was caught at a McDonald’s somewhere in America in the middle of night and they are really stepping up their game. I’m a fan of the quarter pounder, which was founded in 1971, because it’s delicious.

Seeing this…makes me believe that McDonalds really does care about the quality of hamburgers. Of course the cattle may just got lost.

If you’ve ever had a friend show you how to play pickleball, you might have played for five minutes and thought, “oh, I’m a natural at this.”

Then a couple of 70-year-old superstars hit the court…cleaned your clock…and made you realize you need to sign up for lessons. It happens y’all.

Someone just asked the internet the question worth asking, “what’s a skill almost everyone thinks they’re good at…until they meet someone who’s actually great at it?” And here are the most popular responses:

1. Fighting…at least, for a lot of dudes.

2. Storytelling. 

3. Teaching. “You don’t only need to be well-versed in the subject matter. You have to be able to effectively explain that information based on the specific audience in front of you.” All while having patience.

4. Driving.

5. Writing. They’re, there and their. Need I say more?

6. Anything that’s played casually: Cornhole, bowling, darts. “People do pretty well playing against their buddies at the bar, but showing up to an actual competitive league or tournament is eye opening.”

7. Acting. “It looks all-natural and straight-forward . . . but it’s really hard to appear natural.”

8. Evaluating the authenticity of information and advice.

9. Any trade. “Don’t get me started with some of these DIY folks.” Yeah, but many of these fields are plagued with dishonest people that overcharge, or do shoddy work…and that drives people to just trying it themselves.

10.  Photography. Especially with everyone having a smartphone now.

11.  Doing Makeup.

12. “Super Smash Bros”. “There’s a big difference between beating all your friends at house parties, and going to weeklies or tournaments.”

And someone joked, “well, it looks like everyone is bad at everything.”

(Ask Reddit)