What is the best song of 2025 and why is it the unlicensed afrobeats cover of The Fate of Ophelia

Bring the war home:

the first DRTI post of 2026 is for all you resolution-ers - a country workout playlist from friend of the newsletter and notoriously fit country critic @willgroff.bsky.social !!! www.dontrocktheinbox.com/put-a-record...

On @rollingstone.com, the first excerpt of my biography of Justin Townes Earle. This one's about the writing and recording of Harlem River Blues (the album AND the song!) www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

DRTI guest post alert!!!

Wrote about the country music industry going full MAGA in 2025 www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

My WSJ story on the honky-tonk takeover of American nightlife, now in print

Streets are calling my honky tonk story far beyond any other country trend piece!

will's depth of reporting (and unwillingness to make forced political conclusions from it) on this is so far beyond any other country trend piece - you gotta check it out bsky.app/profile/will...

Read @willgroff.bsky.social on nightclubs+bars across the nation going country: www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

I wrote about honky tonks for The Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

I interviewed Jake Owen about his new album, the wonderful and surprising "Dreams to Dream." He had a LOT to say about authenticity, bro country ("I invented that shit!") and that little dustup he had with Jason Isbell over artists writing their own songs thebluegrasssituation.com/read/jake-ow...

Amanda Shires spent an afternoon introducing me to Lubbock and a small portion of those very fun hours is now chronicled in Texas Monthly ahead of her new album :) gift link: www.texasmonthly.com/arts-enterta...

This is sick freak shit to say and it's alright to point that out

Had a real pinch me moment chatting with Ashley Monroe — whose music means as much to me as anyone's — about her new album, Tennessee Lightning. We touched on many things including how she feels about "Americana" (my most burning question). Give it a read! thebluegrasssituation.com/read/ashley-...

quarterly reminder to subscribe to Don't Rock the Inbox

what if annie up is the best pistol annies album…

aoty vibe

apropos of nothing luke bryan has a lot of bad songs but country girl shake it for me is not one of them

if you're curious to learn about "what caused the current country boom" might i recommend a little newsletter called Don't Rock The Inbox :) www.dontrocktheinbox.com

charles is cooking here 🫕

Anyone shocked that Kathy Mattea wasn't already a member of the Grand Ole Opry should read up on how the industry turned on her for having the unmitigated gall to wear three red AIDS support ribbons at the 1992 CMA Awards.

Since I can’t solve the astronomically bigger problems in this world I’m begging people to please stop being so weird about country music when writing about country music!!!!

I went mansion house hunting on FaceTime with Jonny Fritz and all I got was this story. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

ate down

Wrote this little Valentine's Day number on the love songs of Martina McBride, an underrated legend whose best work is sharper and more nuanced than most anything on Today's Country Radio. So-called "music for soccer moms" (a label I resent!) is good, actually!!! open.substack.com/pub/goodcoun...

goated xmas album

yes ma'am this is my post-election healing album

Meanwhile Whiskey Riff runs an article calling Shaboozey a "borderline-country-artist" and saying how disrespectful his performance was... to Toby Keith

shameful stuff www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Another rough night for people who think cancel culture is real

"If a woman doesn't look woman enough to a Republican, they want to be able to inspect your genitals to use a bathroom? It's disgusting. Everyone should reject it completely... they're endangering women, they're endangering girls of all kind, and everyone should reject it. It's gross." - AOC

He may not have won best new artist but Bailey Zimmerman is a lock for the Dwight Yoakam lifetime achievement award for tiniest male waist

Post Malone doing his best Megan Moroney impression

Kacey doing her best Megan Moroney impression

Crazy night for me to come out as a Megan Moroney fan

Me & the good folks at Southern Cultures have been working hard on a country music studies reader in anticipation of the special issue I’m guest editing. Proud of how it’s come together! It includes 12 essays from the archive & 3 new ones. Check it out: www.southerncultures.org/reader/count...

At No Fences Review, we keep on pushing and working on a world w/ a post-election "gospel impulse" Turn It Up (w/ @charleshughes2.bsky.social ) Please share, please subscribe

Hello to my new followers! Here’s my report from a Jason Aldean concert in Nevada last month, which unfortunately now reads as a series of warning signs

A fantastic read here, including some textbook cognitive dissonance from songwriter Kelley Lovelace, who believes he's being silenced while writing a song that literally won an industry award a week ago.

Jason Aldean spoke at a Trump rally last night so I am once again plugging my Rolling Stone report on a recent Aldean concert, where I saw firsthand how "Try That in a Small Town" remains a powerful (and surprisingly adaptable) conservative rallying cry www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Today at No Fences Review: @cantkill.bsky.social on Kris Kristofferson. Don't miss it. Please share and subscribe.

The one where Don’t Rock the Inbox takes on the Try That in a Small Town Industrial Complex

will went into the belly of the beast

I wrote about the stubborn persistence of “Try That in a Small Town,” the strange industrial complex that’s cropped up around the song and the surprising mutability of its meaning. (Aldean recently said it’s about trans people?) My first for @RollingStone www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

I went to a Jason Aldean concert last month in hopes of discerning the true nature of the “Try That in a Small Town” phenomenon. Here’s my report on that experience: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Went back and forth on what exactly to write about the loss of Abe Stoklasa. I ended up here. Hope it does right by him and those who knew him. (Sorry about the photo crop)

once again wearing this album out

I wrote a brief history of queer country music for LGBTQ Nation www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/10/coun...

never not listening to this album