Country music is having a moment. For the first time in history, all five of the top songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart are in the country genre.
Ella Langley’s meteoric hit “Choosin’ Texas,” the biggest single of 2026 so far, is still hanging onto the #1 spot as of Monday. It’s followed by Morgan Wallen’s new single, “Been by Now” at #2. In the third spot is Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You,” which she penned for “Toy Story 5.” In the fourth position is a duet between Langley and Wallen, “I Can’t Love You Anymore.” Rounding out the top five is “Boston” by Stella Lefty. 
Langley’s other single, “Be Her,” is in the #9 spot. Non-country songs in the top 10 include Tame Impala and Jennie’s “Dracula” at #6, Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” at #7, Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me” at #8 and Dean’s “Man I Need” is at #10.
“Choosin’ Texas” made history already by surpassing Whitney Houston&#8217;s &#8220;I Will Always Love You&#8221; and Mariah Carey&#8217;s &#8220;We Belong Together&#8221; as the longest-running non-holiday #1 one songs by female solo artists without male-billed acts, as Variety <a href="https://variety.com/2026/music/news/ella-langley-choosin-texas-ties-whitney-houston-mariah-carey-records-1236816760/">reported</a>. 
Now, many wonder whether Grammy voters will finally recognize country after snubbing the genre for years. Last year, zero country artists received nominations for major categories including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.
The snub was a surprise for fans and industry experts, especially as country music continues to have massive commercial dominance. After voters rejected country&#8217;s dominance, big stars such as Miranda Lambert, George Strait, and Morgan Wallen skipped the Grammys earlier this year.
&#8220;I really hope it doesn&#8217;t turn into that type of dialogue based around politics Right or Left, because it really is not that; it&#8217;s really about what the voters choose to vote for any given year, and it is cyclical,&#8221; Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. <a href="https://tasteofcountry.com/grammys-responds-country-snub/">said</a> earlier this year of country getting shafted.

Ella Langley

Country Music Takes All Top 5 Billboard Spots For First Time Ever

Billboard

Country Music

Entertainment

Music

A couple of months ago, we delivered the obituary for rock music — a genre that was never going to survive the post-Obama cultural shifts in America, which punish experimentation and risk-taking, as well as anything important to white people, while rewarding manufactured solo acts that are easier to market on social media and much easier to manage and control. 
There&#8217;s no doubt that the death of rock is a very bad sign — you might even call it a &#8220;leading indicator&#8221; of cultural decay in this country. Of course, some people — some conservatives, especially — might argue that rock music itself was a driver of cultural decay. And in some cases they might be right. 
But generally speaking, rock was — still is, where you can find it — a truly great art form, in my view. And more than that, it is an American art form. Rock was both a product of American culture and a producer of American culture. 
Each decade going back to the 50s saw a new stage in the evolution of the genre, reflecting changes and shifts in the culture at large — whether it was the prog rock, heavy metal, and arena rock of the 70s, or the new wave and hair metal of the 80s, or the alt rock and grunge of the 90s, and so on. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/matt-walsh-show-ep-1814"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-995295 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Walsh-Banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Walsh-Banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Walsh-Banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Walsh-Banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
You can go back and listen to the rock music of a particular decade, and come away with a better understanding of the cultural mood of that time. Our current decade is arguably the first in 70 years without its own unique rock sound. That is not a good thing, I would quite emphatically argue. 
It’s yet another symptom of an exhausted, decadent culture with no new ideas and nothing left to say. 
That said, there are some subgenres of rock that, while not often producing huge mainstream hits, still churn out great music nonetheless. 
Folk rock is one of those subgenres. I say that really just as a way to wedge in a mention of Glen Hansard, one of the great folk rock and singer-songwriter musicians of our time, who just sadly died in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday. 
He starred in a movie called “Once” back in 2007 that, if you consider it a musical (and I do), is one of the only musicals I ever personally enjoyed. He was a great artist. If you aren’t familiar with him, you should go look him up.
In any case, while rock has fallen on hard times — along with a number of other once-thriving musical genres — it’s not all bad news. 
There is another traditional American genre that&#8217;s somehow thriving right now. And it’s worth thinking about how it has managed to succeed in an environment that has all but destroyed so many other genres. 
This is the counterbalancing narrative to the decline of rock. And it is, dare I say, a cause for some optimism: As rock has faded, country music is dominating the charts. This is a resurgence that&#8217;s been building for several years now. You can make the case that country music is now the strongest it&#8217;s ever been — certainly in terms of its popularity relative to other genres.
Ella Langley&#8217;s &#8220;Choosin&#8217; Texas&#8221; has now spent 15 weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That&#8217;s a record for a female solo act, excluding holiday releases. The previous recordholders were &#8220;We Belong Together&#8221; by Mariah Carey and &#8220;I Will Always Love You&#8221; by Whitney Houston — although the latter was actually written by Dolly Parton, whose original version is superior in my opinion. 
Each song spent 14 weeks at the top spot. Ella Langley’s surprising triumph has been a cause of consternation for some people on social media, who are clearly not thrilled to see a down-home country girl from Alabama take this particular crown. And it’s caused heartburn for some critics who fashion themselves country music purists and have decided that Langley is not authentic enough or something. 
But in fact, she’s quite authentic, and the song, whether you happen to enjoy it or not, is, in many ways, a classic old-school country song. We’ll discuss more about the particular song in a moment and why it&#8217;s successful, but suffice it to say, it&#8217;s not an outlier. As <a href="https://www.billboard.com/lists/ella-langley-choosin-texas-hot-100-number-one-15-weeks/">Billboard</a> reports:
<blockquote>Country hits claim the top four for a second time in the Hot 100’s history, two weeks after the genre first achieved the feat. &#8230; Below “Choosin’ Texas,” Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” is No. 2 for a fifth consecutive week, after it spent its first two weeks on the Hot 100 at No. 1 in June; Stella Lefty’s first top 10, “Boston,” surges 6-3 for a new high; and Langley and Morgan Wallen’s “I Can’t Love You Anymore” rebounds three spots to its No. 4 best. Two weeks earlier, “Choosin’ Texas,” “I Knew It, I Knew You” and “I Can’t Love You Anymore” were in the same spots, joined by Langley’s “Be Her” at No. 3. In eight other weeks — all in the past three years — country titles took the top three, starting on the Aug. 5, 2023-dated Hot 100, via Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car.” Of the nine weeks all-time with country songs at either Nos. 1-3 or Nos. 1-4 on the Hot 100, this week marks the fifth in a row dating to the first week in July.</blockquote>
There are other metrics we could talk about, including the fact that country has been the fastest-growing U.S. genre in on-demand streaming since 2023. The longest-running No. 1 songs in the last three years on streaming services have all been country songs. 
I do have to acknowledge that a lot of modern country music is also terrible. I&#8217;m not going to pretend that every country music song is worthwhile, while all Latin, hip-hop, and R&amp;B is a waste of time. That wouldn’t be true on either score. There are plenty of cliché, boilerplate country songs that sound like they were made primarily to serve as the soundtrack for an Applebee’s commercial. 
There are plenty of country songs that have infused so many pop and even hip-hop elements that they barely qualify as country songs at all. But, even so, many of the popular country songs in recent years have been faithful in tone, theme, and sound to traditional country music — including Ella Langley, Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Lainey Wilson, and others. 
This is not just a story of country music achieving widespread success by stripping itself of every defining feature and becoming a soulless, corporate product indistinguishable from AI slop. There is some of that happening, certainly. But we’re also witnessing a genuine resurgence of the genre at its core.
This is significant in part because, historically, country has been dominated by rural Americans, especially in the South and West, where it originated. What we&#8217;re seeing now is a major victory for Southern culture, which, as we all know, has been vilified and beaten down in mainstream discourse for some time now — certainly, since Obama&#8217;s presidency. 
Country music in the South grew out of the folk ballads from Scottish, Irish, and English immigrants. They were Celtic ballads that transformed into something distinctively American, which gave voice to the unique American experience. One of the first country songs that could be called a mainstream hit — maybe the first ever — was called the “Wreck of the Old 97,” released in 1924, about a train derailment in Virginia. 
So this was a genre that was, in many respects, invented to tell the American story, especially its tragic elements. And in the West, country music had its origins in the lifestyles of ranchers and cattle drivers on the frontier. The songs had relevance to specific parts of the country in ways a lot of music executives didn&#8217;t realize at first.
But in the 1990s, when the music industry turned on the SoundScan system, they immediately realized how popular country music was in these particular areas of the country. Rural radio was the stronghold for country music, even though there were several artists with wide crossover appeal, including Shania Twain and Garth Brooks.  
As of 1997, there were more than 2,400 radio stations devoted solely to country music broadcasting throughout the United States, accounting for more than a quarter of all commercial radio stations in the country.   
Around the same time, country music accounted for roughly 20% of all record sales. Meanwhile, in February 1996 — as country music was surging in small towns across America — New York City&#8217;s biggest country music station — WYNY 103.5 FM — stopped playing country music full-time. They moved over to dance music. In the biggest radio market in the United States, there was no full-time country music station on FM radio. So country was, indeed, a phenomenon in the South and West in particular. And now it&#8217;s coming back.
The song &#8220;Choosin’ Texas,&#8221; in particular, is a solid vehicle to spearhead, or at least participate in, this comeback. I&#8217;m not going to pretend that it&#8217;s some historic, extraordinary achievement in songwriting or anything like that. It isn’t an artistic masterpiece necessarily. But it is a genuine country song, and a good one, that is now objectively one of the biggest hits of this century. 
It&#8217;s also not some insufferable girlboss anthem. If anything, it&#8217;s an anti-girlboss anthem. And it&#8217;s not a braindead pop song pretending to be country, wearing the style of country music like a skinsuit.  In case you&#8217;ve somehow never heard this song, here it is: 
Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Ella Langley - Choosin&#039; Texas (Official Lyric Video)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hLOheGDwD_0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It’s about a woman who&#8217;s pining for a man who&#8217;s choosing someone else. It&#8217;s a song that feels less like a lot of modern pop country and more like a spiritual successor to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Which, given that “Jolene” is one of the greatest songs of all time, is not bad company to be in. 
A song like “Jolene” resonates across generations because it&#8217;s about feelings and troubles that people connect with. It’s about someone who is pleading, desperate, and heartbroken. That’s a human experience. 
A lot of modern pop and hip hop music — and plenty of the worst and most fraudulent country music — by comparison, consists of the artist bragging about themselves. It’s false and fake and doesn’t speak to anything deeper in the human soul, which may be one of the reasons why the public is tiring of those genres. 
When I praised the Ella Langley song on X, a few people responded that her song is also degenerate nonsense because it’s about a woman drinking away her sorrows. And sure, that&#8217;s part of it. I&#8217;m not trying to make the case that this song should be some kind of Bible for how to live your life. 
But, first of all, like it or not, drinking away your troubles has been a regular theme of country music for 70 years at least. And second, again, pining for something, and feeling heartbroken because you can’t have it, is human. It’s real. And those are the aspects of the human condition that music is supposed to illuminate and give voice to. In short, it’s a song about yearning, about longing.
All that to say, if the concept of “yearning,” or longing, is making a small, limited, isolated comeback, by way of country music — that would be good news. It would suggest that people are becoming more aspirational, as opposed to being demanding and insufferable. 
People want to live in a part of the country that has a viable future. Living around death and decay and incompetence is extremely demoralizing. And it contradicts a natural human impulse, which is to strive for something better than you currently have. 
Call it &#8220;yearning&#8221; or &#8220;desire&#8221; or whatever you want, but there&#8217;s an unmistakable drive in most people to improve their circumstances for themselves and future generations. If you live in a state like California or Illinois, then in all likelihood, you don&#8217;t see how things can get any better, because every year they&#8217;re getting worse.
People who are optimistic and forward-thinking, on the other hand, are getting out of town. And unsurprisingly, in other aspects of their life, they&#8217;re seeking out content that isn&#8217;t intended to demoralize them or glorify murder and depravity. 
That explains why the most conservative and most traditionally American regions of the country are dominating the rest of it. And it explains why there&#8217;s a newfound demand for wholesome, original, upbeat content, rather than the degenerate drivel we&#8217;ve been subjected to for decades. 
Is it the most important victory that conservatives could possibly win? No. Are there many other things we need to fight for, instead of conducting hearings where nothing is ever accomplished? Absolutely. 
But all the same, it&#8217;s a very important start. It&#8217;s a very welcome sign. And for once, as tempting as it may be to indulge in gloom and doomerism, we should celebrate that.

Country Music Is Absolutely Dominating. Here’s Why.

Dolly Parton

Jolene

rock music

Driving down Tennessee roads with rolling green fields, a big blue sky, and beautiful 19th-century homes, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my interview with Lakelin Lemmings, but I couldn’t wait to find out. Three years ago, the rising star signed a publishing deal with Quartz Hill Records at 17 and a label deal at 19. Just days before the release of her debut album, the Gen Z singer spoke with me about her music, passion for God, goals of motherhood, and mission to &#8220;remain country.&#8221;
Lakelin arrived at the recording studio in a boot-cut denim jumpsuit and red paisley scarf around her neck, and I knew right away this girl wasn’t someone who takes herself too seriously. When I told her that we share the same birth year and I couldn’t wait to hear from a woman who’s dealing with the same issues as other Gen Z girls our age, she smiled. With Lakelin&#8217;s <a href="https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/1UnCpJJNyTv1D8nlKVlgiI">first album</a> coming out on Friday, she is excited.
“I&#8217;m feeling like all the hard work and stuff is about to pay off, and that hopefully everybody loves it as much as I do,” Lakelin said. “I think one of the earliest songs in the album I wrote was when I was freshly 16 and the last one when I turned 19. It&#8217;s finally gonna be introduced into the world.”
Many of the songs in the album tackle the topics of young love, relationships, and heartbreak. As someone who loves “How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days” and any good rom-com, Lakelin said she sometimes pulled inspiration from shows she watched, but she has also dealt with a series of her own relationship struggles.
Like other young women her age, Lakelin has had her share of situationships — a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/experimentations/202403/are-you-in-a-situationship/amp?utm_source=chatgpt.com">term</a> Gen Z uses to describe a romantic relationship without commitment labels. Lakelin&#8217;s song “What Are We Doing” is trying to figure out just that. In “Get Around Boy,” the song lists the places Lakelin hopes to travel to and describes a young man who stays behind in Tennessee as she chases her dreams. Eventually, Lakelin did travel to nearly all the places she mentions, and now says she has a boy “in the back of my mind.”
As the title “19 &amp; Single” suggests, the song touches on the pressure to get married with lyrics like, “I’m all for a Friday night with the girls / &#8216;Cause 19 and single ain’t the end of the world.” Lakelin said she feels pressure when friends get engaged, married, and start having babies. With earnest hopes for marriage and motherhood, Lakelin said she has made sacrifices to be where she is, but still wants to perform her music and pursue her dreams.
Not all of Lakelin&#8217;s lyrics were inspired by what you’d expect. After singing along in the car to Lakelin’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DbHG1muBl1G/?hl=en">“He Ain’t Coming Back,”</a> I had to get the scoop behind this earworm. Another smile.
“Yeah, so everybody thinks that, you know, ‘He Ain&#8217;t Coming Back’ is about some boy that did me wrong and something like that,” Lakelin said. “But the story of it is actually — I was finishing up writing the album and we needed an up-tempo song.” 
Just days before it was time to record the album, Lakelin texted her two favorite co-writers to tell them the emergency: They had to come up with one more track. They convened on a Friday, but the co-writers had to cancel another appointment to make the timing work. 
“We get there, and we’re writing, and we hadn&#8217;t really gotten a title or anything yet, and — a knock on the door. It&#8217;s the guy that they were supposed to write with,” Lakelin said.
After the co-writers explained the rescheduling and the man’s confusion passed, he left. But the situation was “just really awkward,” Lakelin said.
“My co-writer, after he leaves, is like, ‘Man, I hope he comes back,’ and I just look at him, and I go, ‘Oh, he ain&#8217;t coming back.’ And a light bulb and a flip switched, and we were like, ‘We&#8217;re writing that.’”
Throughout Lakelin’s journey, her faith in God has been central. There have been difficult moments, Lakelin said, but she believes “God’s called me to country music.” Lakelin describes herself as a Christian who writes country music, not as a Christian country artist.
“I feel like there&#8217;s a need in country music for somebody that loves country music and can talk about those types of things, but also is rooted in her faith and is genuinely someone who&#8217;s only after God&#8217;s will,” Lakelin said, noting that Christian country singers often sing traditional Christian songs that feel less “country.”
“I love Christian music, and I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ll dabble in it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And I have a little bit to keep the faith life of mine, but I&#8217;m always going to remain country.”
As someone who stays with her family whenever she’s not on the road, Lakelin loves seeing her two little sisters — aged one and three — who know her as “Lae Lae.” Lakelin said she’s like their second mother, with a large age gap between them and the three oldest siblings. Lemmings was the middle child for years with her now 23-year-old sister, whom she would compete with in singing, and a 17-year-old brother. However, after the first daughter left the nest, Lemmings said her parents wanted more kids, dreaming of having a family of eight.
Lakelin’s family couldn&#8217;t be more supportive of her burgeoning music career. Since she was little, Lakelin has performed in competitions, and her extended family still recalls when she was performing at their barbecue singing competition. Lakelin said she does wonder what they think watching her grow from small performances to standing on grand stages. 
How does she stay grounded in some sort of routine with a life that is always moving from writing and recording sessions to performances and tours? She named only two things: her coffee in the morning and her Bible in the evening. 
“After a long week or a long day in the music world, I like to just go home and have a cup of coffee, read my Bible, maybe tan a little bit, and just spend time with family and friends,” she said.
Lakelin has a message to other girls who are dreamers with a desire from God but see too many roadblocks.
“If you&#8217;re gonna be a dreamer, you got to be a doer. And I think that if you have a dream, then chase it,” Lakelin said. “If it&#8217;s God&#8217;s will and his plan, then it&#8217;s going to work out just the way it&#8217;s supposed to. It&#8217;s going to be hard at times to trust that and trust in Him, but you just got to keep the faith.”
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

712844759_18468127816106889_5214607018557455055_n

The Country Star Bringing Faith To Center Stage

interview

Tennessee

Upstream

Bruce Springsteen thinks the best way to love your country is to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bruce-springsteen-reignites-trump-feud-says-critical-patriotism-defines-patriot">slam it from one concert stage to the next.</a>
Aaron Lewis would rather sing about the values that make America great: Faith. Resilience. Pride in the country. And gratitude that seems to elude The Boss on the latter’s 2026 No Kings tour.
Lewis, the Staind lead singer who segued into country stardom with the 2011 EP “Town Line,” pours out his patriotism on his new album, “Give My Country Back.” And yes, the title track is as fiery as expected. Lewis shreds Americans eager to fundamentally transform the freest country in the world.
<blockquote>
Now we’re standing on the shoulders of the ones that went before 
Proud of what they did to make it all worth dying for 
Yeah, you bite the hand that feeds you 
And it ought to be a crime 
You wave a flag from somewhere else while you’re burning mine
</blockquote>
Lewis, 54, tells The Daily Wire his sixth solo album extols a value that’s in short supply today: accountability.
“You don’t have to look very far in either direction to see hundreds of examples of there being no accountability left in this world,” Lewis says. That, and a lack of gratitude for the country’s many blessings, can’t help but stick in the singer’s craw.
“I’m very lucky. I’ve been able to travel all over the world with the job I’ve had for 30 years … this is the most amazing country on the face of the planet without a close second,” Lewis says.
“If you’re 50 years old and older, it’s now your responsibility for your grandkids and children to receive from you a better country than you received from your grandparents and your parents,” he adds. “We’re the only country where it works that way.”
“Give My Country Back” finds Lewis weighing in on issues of gratitude and love of country, steeped in his textured vocals and an old-school country spirit. You can smell the leather and grit on his honky tonk tracks.
You won’t miss his message, but he says the delivery method for most of his material isn’t meant to push anyone away.
“I’m never trying to hit anybody over the head with it &#8230; nobody wants to get screamed in their face,” he says. “When you start that, they stop listening.” And he shares his deeply held opinions for a reason.
That said, the title track is getting a live reaction akin to his biggest hits, think “Am I the Only One” and “Country Boy.”
“I usually know pretty quickly that I did something right,” he says of the live audience feedback.
He describes other new tracks, like “Bad Thing To Be Good At,” as an example of an older, wiser musician “owning all of my s***.”
The new album, produced by Sol Philcox-Littlefield, finds Lewis collaborating on many of the tracks. It’s a different writing process from the one he embraces with Staind music, and it’s one that took some time to process.
“It’s just a different culture in the country world,” he says. “It honestly felt good at first … it took all the onus and weight off my shoulders.”
The singer co-wrote five of the album’s 10 tracks, working with veteran collaborators like Jeffrey Steele, Bobby Pinson, Travis Meadows, and Casey Beathard.
The difference is in the level of satisfaction he finds when he harnesses a personal outlook, which isn’t quite the same here – “it almost feels like I’m cheating,” he quips. He might return to a more personal approach for his next country release.
Lewis maintains a dual strategy for his career. He has fall tour dates planned with Staind while currently bringing “Give My Country Back” to concert venues nationwide. He still draws a clear distinction between projects.
“I’ve never pulled any punches whatsoever … I’ve really just said whatever the f*** was on my mind,” he says, an approach that applies to his solo music.
With Staind, he follows a different course.
“I don’t say anything during the entire [live] Staind show, and at the end I say, ‘goodnight,’” he says. “I do all of my talking … all of my opinions or thoughts or whatever it may be, only when it’s my name on it. I have put in quite a bit of effort to ensure that there is a separation.”
Call Lewis the “anti-Boss.” And, since the interview wasn’t for a Staind project or tour, he weighed in on Springsteen’s hard-Left pivot.
“He has been a member of the elite class for so long,” Lewis said of the New Jersey rocker, whom he dubs “disconnected” from the working class. Springsteen has taken heat in recent years for his sky-high concert ticket prices, something he has defended rather than addressed, all while he keeps railing against President Trump on stage and off.
“Everything he stands for is bulls***.  It’s all just anti-American bulls***. I don’t have any tolerance for it,” Lewis says.
The Rutland, Vermont native has straddled two major genres over the past 15 or so years, and he’s not against stretching some more.
He envisions another side of his musical life, a trippy, electronica sound that has caught his attention. He’s already mastered two genres. Why not another?
He says he’d like to duck away with a collaborator well versed in that style and “just see what comes out of it.”
***
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155">The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</a>. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en">@HollywoodInToto</a>.

Aaron Lewis In Concert – Detroit, MI

Country Music’s All-American Anti-Springsteen

Aaron Lewis

Bruce Springsteen

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wed Friday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, putting to bed weeks of rumors with star-studded nuptials in the heart of New York City.
The singer and Kansas City Chiefs star tied the knot in front of 1,000 guests, according to People Magazine. The &#8220;Blank Space&#8221; singer and three-time Super Bowl champion were married by comedian Adam Sandler, with whom Kelce bonded while filming the former&#8217;s movie &#8220;Happy Gilmore 2.&#8221; Following the ceremony, the jumbotrons outside the venue displayed the message: &#8220;JUST&amp;T MARRIED!&#8221;
For weeks leading up to the ceremony, rumors swirled about the lavish affair, pictures of which have yet to be released. Swift&#8217;s team <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/save-the-date-rumors-swirl-around-taylor-swifts-highly-anticipated-wedding">filed permits</a> to close the streets around the arena in the days prior to the ceremony, during which time photos showed truckloads of food and decorations being unloaded into the iconic arena.
&#8220;The bride and groom’s wedding ceremony looks have been created by Christian Dior Haute Couture,&#8221; Swift&#8217;s team said in a statement. &#8220;Their shoes were custom made by Christian Louboutin and the bride wore Cartier jewelry.&#8221;
The statement also confirmed that &#8220;Taylor &amp; Travis did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen.&#8221; Swift&#8217;s brother, Austin, served as the singer&#8217;s &#8220;Man of Honor,&#8221; while Jason Kelce — formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles — served as his brother&#8217;s best man.
Swift and Kelce announced their engagement last summer via a joint Instagram post captioned “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” The pair met after Kelce attended Swift’s Eras Tour concert in Kansas City in 2023 and tried to give her a personalized friendship bracelet — the singer&#8217;s hallmark — with his phone number, but wasn’t able to reach her. Kelce later recalled the story on a podcast, which led to the celebrities getting together.
Madison Square Garden was transformed for Friday&#8217;s ceremony, with sources close to the situation telling People they had &#8220;never seen&#8221; the venue &#8220;look so different.&#8221; The wedding decor reportedly included a castle, and Swift was reported to have performed at the ceremony. Swift and Kelce reportedly donated $26 million to charity to mark the occasion of their nuptials. Recipients included Feeding America, the ASPCA, and Dolly Parton&#8217;s Imagination Library.
Swift and Kelce hosted a welcome reception at the Garden on Thursday night for A-list guests, most of whom returned for the main event on Friday. Celebrities spotted entering the Garden or reported to attend included actors Bradley Cooper, Dakota Johnson, and Lena Dunham; late-night host Jimmy Fallon; model Karlie Kloss and her husband, Josh Kushner; and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.
The crowd also included a host of country music stars, including Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, The Chicks, and Brad Paisley.
Notably absent from the ceremony were &#8220;Gossip Girl&#8221; star Blake Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds. It&#8217;s unclear what caused a rift between Lively and Swift, longtime close friends, though it seems downstream of Lively&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywoods-biggest-legal-feud-collapses-after-millions-wasted-on-lawyers?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Hollywood%E2%80%99s+Biggest+Legal+Feud+Collapses+After+%E2%80%98Millions%E2%80%99+Wasted+On+Lawyers">contentious legal battle</a> with &#8220;It Ends With Us&#8221; co-star and director Justin Baldoni.
&#8220;It wasn’t one big thing, it was everything adding up,&#8221; a source close to Swift <a href="https://pagesix.com/2026/07/03/entertainment/blake-lively-and-ryan-reynolds-shut-out-of-taylor-swift-travis-kelce-msg-wedding/">told Page Six</a> about the rift. &#8220;By the time Taylor was making decisions about the wedding and who she wanted there, she realized she just didn’t want that kind of energy around something so important and it really was a turning point for her.”

New York Knicks v Cleveland Cavaliers – Game Three

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Tie The Knot In Star-Studded NYC Ceremony

Blake Lively

Jason Kelce

Madison Square Garden

New York City

Taylor Swift

Travis Kelce

Wedding

Country music&#8217;s biggest stars packed Nashville&#8217;s Nissan Stadium on Saturday night to celebrate Alan Jackson as he performed the final concert of his legendary career.
The 67-year-old singer-songwriter put on his last set alongside George Strait, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Jon Pardi, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, and other artists who gathered to honor Jackson. The event was filmed for an NBC concert special celebrating Jackson ahead of his retirement. 
Jackson performed many of his well-known hits, including singles “Gone Country,” “Livin’ on Love,” “Summertime Blues” and “Midnight in Montgomery.” He also played “Little Bitty,” “Country Boy,” “Good Time,” and his post-9/11 anthem, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” Fireworks lit up the sky during “Chattahoochee,” according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/alan-jackson-final-concert-george-strait-72ebb2f87fdca2c2ae8a7308278c9b9b">Associated Press</a>.
Jackson addressed the crowd, saying the experience was “overwhelming” before joking that he wouldn&#8217;t spend much time on “last show stuff” because he’s “not dead.”
Jackson announced last year that he would retire from touring, telling fans during a concert in Milwaukee that it would be his &#8220;last roadshow.&#8221; 
“It’s been a long, sweet ride; it started 40 years ago this September. My wife and I drove to Nashville with an old U-Haul trailer and chased this dream,&#8221; Jackson said. &#8220;It’s been a crazy ride. I lived the American Dream, for sure. So blessed. Thank you all so much for all your support of my music and attending my shows.” 
The announcement came four years after Jackson revealed that he had been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological disorder.
“I’ve been reluctant to talk about this publicly and to my fans, but it’s been a while, and it’s starting to affect my performance onstage a little bit where I don’t feel comfortable,” Jackson said in 2021.
“I just wanted the fans and the public to know if they’ve come to see me in the last few years or if they come to see me in the future if I play anymore, what’s going on. I don’t want them to think I’m drunk onstage because I’m having problems with mobility and balance.” 
While Jackson said the condition is not fatal, he acknowledged it would eventually make performing more difficult.
“This is not a condition that I would be complaining about typically, but it is going to affect me performance-wise onstage, and I don’t know how much I’ll continue to tour,” Jackson said at the time.
Jackson is known for blending traditional honky-tonk with mainstream country, creating a signature sound. With more than 60 million albums sold, 35 number-one hits, and numerous awards, including Grammys and CMA honors, he’s one of country music’s most enduring and respected artists.

Alan Jackson

Country Legends Unite For Farewell Show

Nashville

U.S.

Country music artist Morgan Wallen was caught on video last week throwing a cell phone across the stage during a show.
The incident occurred during a Pittsburgh stop on his “Still the Problem” tour Friday. A concert attendee recorded Wallen gesturing to the phone before walking away, then walking back and ripping the phone out of the guard’s hand. The country star proceeded to dramatically throw the phone across the stage.
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/FO3CgfkimjZAAsXFy24wZ6irMYc1jR01l?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=ebd78c87-2c62-406e-a515-b3208748957e&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Morgan%20Wallen%20snatches%20phone%20from%20security%20guard%2C%20chucks%20it%20&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2Fbad7dfa4-cb2a-4295-89ea-f46c11228281.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
A TikTok user posted a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jcroo419/video/7648373212270677262">video</a> of the incident, writing in the caption, “I get it … security should be doing security things, but &#8230;” 
The TikTok poster also said the phone was given to the security guard by another fan to record. 
Wallen canceled the second of his two planned stops in Pittsburgh, blaming weather and later referencing what he described as “nonsense” rumors about him.
&#8220;This morning, my team walked on my bus and told me they had been consulting with local officials and that I should cancel my show in Pittsburgh tonight and I said, ‘Why?’&#8221; Wallen <a href="https://www.instagram.com/morganwallen/?hl=en">said</a> in the video posted to his Instagram Stories.
&#8220;They said that there was going to be strong winds in the area, and I said, ‘OK.’ So, that is what I did and that was the information I had in the moment, and I trusted my team,&#8221; Wallen said. &#8220;I understand that wind hasn&#8217;t gotten to Pittsburgh yet. &#8230; The truth of the matter is, I have a large stage that, in those conditions, could become fatal to a lot of folks around it. So, I did the best I could with the information I had in that moment.&#8221;
“I’ve been seeing a lot of nonsense about me that is simply not true, and I just wanted to clear the air,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I think my true fans know that that’s not how I operate in general, but I had to say it. Y&#8217;all take care.&#8221;
His fans were questioning this explanation, speculating that it had to do with the prior night’s incident and not with the weather at all. 
&#8220;Morgan wallen [sic] cancelling his show last night is just hilarious because i walked outside after my shift at 11pm and my car was completely dry,&#8221; one X commenter <a href="https://x.com/coleslawslut/status/2063640778920927384?s=46&amp;t=6H1TpnlkKEHOxmv5jMs48Q">claimed</a>. &#8220;No rain in sight. that man was already on his way back to tennessee [sic].&#8221;
“&#8230;he hates his fans and his job and they eat it up,” the person continued. 
Wallen previously made headlines for flipping a piano during a performance last month.

Morgan Wallen

VIDEO: Morgan Wallen Snatches Phone From Security Guard, Chucks It Across Stage

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weekend-plans">Weekend Plans</a> is Upstream’s exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, 27-year-old country singer and political commentator Alexis Wilkins stops by Daily Wire HQ to talk about splitting time between Nashville and D.C., her strategy for flying above the fray, and why dating FBI Director Kash Patel might be the most normal (and perfectly aligned) chapter of her story.
***
Alexis Wilkins arrives wearing a relaxed button-down and silver jewelry, offset by her dark hair, which she tucks behind her ear. She offers me a warm smile and a big hug. I’ll bet you $1,000 no one would ever peg her as an NRA board member. “Hiiiii!” she trills. I immediately get why those who know her love her. 
I’m not going to be that girl who asks when Kash is finally gonna put a ring on it (yet), or whether the relentless stream of rage-bait headlines and credible death threats freaks her out. Instead, I go with, “How does it feel to be hot enough that people think you&#8217;re a spy?”
Alexis laughs. “I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s ever been framed that way, and I love it.”
She grew up Orthodox Christian, mostly in Arkansas, raised by her Armenian mother who was a financial consultant and her father who was top brass at Gillette. 
Still, some allege she’s a “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kash-patel-girlfriend-alexis-wilkins-conspiracy-israel-mossad-b2945596.html">Mossad honeypot</a>.” Alexis essentially rolls her eyes. “My poor mom&#8217;s digging in our basement for my baptism certificate, like, ‘Wait, but this doesn&#8217;t make any sense.’ I&#8217;m like, ‘Mom, they don&#8217;t do common sense.’” 
“If I wasn’t doing a good job, nobody would attack me,” she adds. “So I will continue to do my work.”
Alexis doesn’t come off as anything close to a flash-in-the-pan opportunist. Hey, New York Times, she built a career of her own long before Kash. 
Alexis wrote her first song when she was seven years old and recorded it in Nashville at the ripe old age of nine. “I started writing when I was really young because I read an article in a Smithsonian magazine about <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fire-in-the-hole-77895126/">coal fires</a> in Pennsylvania,” she says. (Wait, she was reading Smithsonian at seven?) “It was just one of those ‘bored is not allowed’ things,” Alexis confirms. 
“I asked my mom if we could donate all of our money, and she was like, ‘No, that&#8217;s not how that works.’” Instead, her mother suggested she use her talents to fundraise for the cause. “I went on my American Girl doll tape recorder, and I recorded a song. And I&#8217;m like, I&#8217;m gonna put it on the new iTunes thing that’s out, and we&#8217;re gonna raise money with this song.”
She later took on Christ-focused <a href="https://www.independentwomen.com/people/alexis-wilkins/">Belmont University</a> when an activist professor gave her an F in comparative politics because he didn’t jive with her conservative values. His mistake was messing with a straight-A student who doesn’t take kindly to being silenced.
She also describes leaving the American flag icon on her social media and continuing to work with veterans despite pressure from the music industry to tame her patriotism. Pointing to her parents and a close circle of friends, Alexis says, “My support system is really great. That&#8217;s why I started speaking up.” 
About her music, tracks like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm8fSgu6Wgc&amp;list=RDvm8fSgu6Wgc&amp;start_radio=1">Grit</a>” and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BQayn516w&amp;list=RDA7BQayn516w&amp;start_radio=1">Country Back</a>” are as fire as her favorite <a href="https://www.sigsauer.com/p365-380-rose.html">Sig Sauer P365-Rose</a> and as country as cowboy boots. Luckily, Alexis is still following her gut and staying true to herself.
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTbrrIHEX3s/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
&nbsp;
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div>
</div>
&nbsp;
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTbrrIHEX3s/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Alexis Wilkins (@alexiswilkins)</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
The rare off-duty day
Alexis hits the stage most weekends, but on the occasion that she’s in D.C. with a little downtime, she says she and Kash prefer “no plans” plans. “We just hang out, honestly,” she says. The U.S Intelligence life involves constantly being on-call, but the couple unplugs when they can. “We settle into the house, see people, cook, ask, ‘What do you want to do today?’ Things that we don&#8217;t always have the luxury of doing. It&#8217;s such a blessing.”
Back in Nashville, a free schedule features the same emphasis on living in the moment with the people she cares about most. “I would go to breakfast with my mom, and go antiquing or something … find an estate sale. I just love old things.” 
A curated place to call home
Architectural Digest’s “<a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/video/series/open-door">Open Door</a>” home tour series is missing out on a brilliant gem. Alexis describes the interior of her Nashville home as “old Roy Rogers,” AKA the cowboy decor of any Western fan’s dreams, which her mom helped her DIY.
Part of the vintage curioscape involves a mid-century RCA turn-dial TV they rigged to stream nonstop Westerns, and a gorgeous bannister they built from salvaged wood and rugged rebar. “I collect old books,” she explains of her museum library-like collection of secondhand treasures. “I am literate, contrary to popular reporting.” 
But once she utters, “I have a taxidermy squirrel that has a cowboy hat and a holster,” <a href="https://woodlandcreekfurniture.com/gunslinger-squirrel-whimsical-taxidermy-mount-anr-sqbandit.html?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=20086237438&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD_a_Z1yVuMnIduE_wQkkqjsbbsUH&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw8uTQBhAdEiwAVvtJyvC0Tx-TOfxA_lYxkrx09I-MdfQWSFKI1E6gBiBN0SHu1b5wbbyyBxoCS0oQAvD_BwE">I’m sold</a>. As for music? “I listen to Gene Autry, like very, very, very old Western country. It&#8217;s a theme in my house.”
Rejuvenating in the midst of chaos
For Alexis, the biggest difference between her public and private life is the way she’s portrayed in the headlines. “People would be surprised that I&#8217;m just not very serious,” she says. “I&#8217;m just kind of a normal person … God forbid.” 
She can often be found reading over policies, researching, and even teaching herself to code, so zoning out with a little beauty routine is her favorite way to unwind: “sitting in front of my red light, on my <a href="https://higherdose.com/products/higherdose-infrared-pemf-on-the-go-mat?variant=42731166498987">PEMF [pulsed electromagnetic field] mat</a> on the grounding setting, watching reality TV.” When we talked, she had just finished part one of the “Summer House” reunion. 
Also a fan of Pilates, light strength training, and a peaceful walk outdoors, she wants to form a regular hobby that doesn’t involve a screen. Still, we’re both low-key looking forward to “Love Is Blind” Season 11 this fall.
Cooking up a family connection
Keeping it simple in the kitchen, Alexis preps basics like chicken cutlets and <a href="https://www.goodles.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq2xGaj7J-5ctFvNc5uSwlkqO9vZTvqx-eA7V1IyPOWi6ayampi">Goodles</a> mac and cheese for herself. “I am such a boring eater,” she jokes. “I&#8217;m making chicken Caesar wraps all the time.” But when Kash hits the jackpot during hunting season, she says, “We have a lot of wild game to work with. I&#8217;ve been cooking stuffed peppers with elk recently.”
Always down to learn something new, she also enjoys discovering a few tricks of the trade from the Gujarati Indian side of the family. “[Kash’s] mom teaches me how to cook,” she says, noting how the same dish might be seasoned differently depending on a family’s preference. “I&#8217;m in the kitchen with her, I&#8217;m asking her questions, I&#8217;m taking pictures of how much spice she uses. It&#8217;s such a fun privilege to get to learn these things.”
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1104731" style="width: 393px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1104731" class=" wp-image-1104731" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="383" height="216" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px" />Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images</div>
A casual meet-cute 
Alexis and Kash met at a Truth Social party at country singer John Rich’s house, where Kash tried to hit on her by complimenting her jacket. But first things first, what the heck was that jacket? 
“You&#8217;re the first person to ask me that,” she smiles. “Fun fact. It&#8217;s actually a men’s jacket: the <a href="https://www.filson.com/products/mackinaw-wool-cruiser-jacket-red-black-plaid-1">Filson Mackinaw</a> wool plaid jacket, black and red.” She later bought one for Kash as an inside joke. Alexis proudly maintains “boring,” “straight-laced” professional boundaries, so it took a minute before she accepted an invitation to dinner at E3 Chophouse in Nashville with the then-adviser to Donald Trump. But this serendipitous connection almost didn’t happen.
“I wasn&#8217;t gonna go to that party because I had lost my dog like 10 days before,” she recalls. Deep in grief over her 16-year-old Bichon Frise, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjKKj29OmDN/">Bizou</a>, Alexis reluctantly took her mom’s advice … sort of. “My mom literally kicked me out. She was like, ‘You have to get out of the house.’ I was like, I&#8217;m just wearing jeans. The joke is I wasn&#8217;t dressed up.”
Kash has <a href="https://youtu.be/QJZz4hI-KZE?t=696">spoken</a> publicly about an imminent proposal, but the dedicated couple remains intentional as they navigate uncharted territory. “We had no idea, obviously, what challenges lay in store for us,” Alexis says. “But everything is an adventure. I&#8217;m so proud of him.”
Advice for the next generation
Alexis offers front-line wisdom for those just beginning to find their voice. “I think that being who you are does turn into a superpower,” she says. Stepping out confident in your values requires some guts, but she confirms, “It&#8217;s the same thing as someone saying you have to go to these parties in high school and do drugs to be cool. We all look at that like, ‘Oh, that&#8217;s peer pressure.’ You don&#8217;t have to be in rooms that you don&#8217;t want to be in.”
This high-value apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. She says her grandpa — a first-generation Armenian who worked in an ice cream factory, sold newspapers, shined shoes at age five, and went on to become an aerospace engineer — often quoted historian Thomas Babington Macaulay: “The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”
“My mom always said don&#8217;t settle,” she adds.
I tell her to waitlist me for a “Mossad honeypot” tee if she ever launches a line of satirical merch. But before we part ways, I invite her to share what most often occupies her thoughts.
“Am I making a good impact, and am I showing up for my friends and family, and am I being myself in all of this noise?” she says. “Is God proud of me? Is my mom proud of me? Okay, cool.”

Upstream-Wilkins-2

Weekend Plans With Alexis Wilkins

weekend plans

It’s been 48 hours since organizers unveiled the lineup for the “Freedom 250” concert on the National Mall, and nearly every featured musical act has dropped out.
Morris Day &amp; The Time say they were never confirmed for the kickoff to The Great American State Fair, while the other acts all posted some version of the same statement.
Martina McBride said she “was assured this was a nonpartisan event,” while Bret Michaels said the event was described to him “as a celebration of our country through music and a chance to honor … hardworking Americans from all walks of life.”
“Unfortunately, what was presented to us as a celebration of our country has evolved into something much more divisive,” Michaels added. Rapper Young MC offered a similar excuse, saying he was “never told about any political involvement with the event” and expressed his desire to “perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged.”
What a load of bullshit.
I don’t expect famous musicians to embody courage and patriotism, but even by celebrity standards, this is an egregious display of both ignorance and cowardice. These artists didn’t pull out because the concert was politicized — they politicized it by pulling out.
The bigger issue is that the event would have been politicized no matter what the artists did. Had McBride and Michaels and the lot stayed on the bill, it would have sent a message to Americans about the importance of separating patriotism from politics. Instead, their actions worsened the problem they pretended to lament. It’s unfortunate, and it’s embarrassing.
Let’s break it down.
<h3>Partisanship Is Neither Bad Nor Un-American</h3>
I want to start here, because this is the subtext of the entire debacle. The artists were happy to sing on the Mall until the media and Democrats started deeming it “Trump’s concert,” at which point they promptly ran for the hills. The real issue, of course, is that they don’t want to be associated with Trump (more on that later). But because they want to seem like they’re above the political fray, they simply say that they want to remain “nonpartisan.”
People love to say this, and it always makes them sound stupid. You can’t touch politics and remain nonpartisan. Bipartisan, sure — it’s possible for people with different party affiliations and ideologies to work together, and good when they do. But nonpartisan? To quote the 21st century’s sleepiest president: Come on, man.
This isn’t even a commentary on our divisive political age, though it’s certainly gotten harder to play at nonpartisanship over the past decade. Partisanship is literally built into the foundation of this country. The Constitution? A document born out of a brutal political struggle. Washington, D.C.? Declared our nation’s capital after a backroom trade between warring factions. Even George Washington’s <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/george-washington-farewell-address-1796" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Farewell Address</a> — where Washington famously cautioned Americans to avoid “the enterprises of faction” — is a partisan document. Alexander Hamilton wrote the speech with an eye towards Thomas Jefferson and James Madison’s nascent Republican Party. Washington wasn’t warning Americans to avoid political parties as a rule; he was telling them they should <a href="https://dn720706.ca.archive.org/0/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.148237/2015.148237.The-Idea-Of-A-Party-System.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">all be Federalists</a>.
So, even if a celebration is associated with a particular party or politician, that doesn’t make it bad. But as luck would have it for our roster of stars, that’s not even a thing they needed to worry about.
<h3>There’s Nothing “Partisan” About The National Mall Concert</h3>
Donald Trump is a divisive and partisan figure. The former is a matter of perception: if Democrats could get over themselves, he would be seen as the opposition rather than the enemy. But the latter is an indisputable fact: Trump is an elected official and the head of the Republican Party. In that role, he is inherently partisan, no two ways about it.
But Trump isn’t just the leader of the Republican Party. He’s the President of the United States. As ultraliberal President Jed Bartlet says in “The West Wing,” “I&#8217;m the President of the United States, not the president of the people who agree with me.”
So it is with Trump. Partisanship is just one part of a presidency. The other, more important part — leading the nation and all that — was perfectly reflected in this concert. Trump is right to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence with, as John Adams <a href="https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17760703jasecond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">once wrote</a>, “pomp and parade, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations.”
Now, Trump will almost certainly make some kind of political speech at the concert. Of course he will. Would it be better if he stuck to patriotic platitudes and avoided potshots at political foes? Of course. But that’s not who he is, and that&#8217;s not what our politics is like these days. But even a presidential display of partisanship is not enough to drown out the broader message of the concert. That’s the entire point of this country – the republic looms larger than, and outlasts, our petty squabbling.
It’s also, to a certain extent, the point of live music. Conservatives take it for granted that their favorite artists hate them, and they go to their concerts anyway. You can sit through a rambling Springsteen monologue about tyranny if it means getting a roaring “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.” Liberals, having enjoyed cultural hegemony for so long, can’t conceive of this. And so these artists — none of whom are really famous enough to pass up a national stage — chose to stay home rather than play nice with the president for an afternoon. That’s unpatriotic and stupid, but it’s also just really, really lame.
<h3>Everyone Needs To Be Cool About Cool Stuff</h3>
Just because partisanship isn’t inherently bad doesn’t mean it’s all inherently good. And one of the worst expressions of partisanship is when people let their political priors blind them to objectively good things. We see this all the time when politics and entertainment intersect.
Before acts started pulling out of the concert, people were talking about the upcoming UFC fight on the White House lawn. Construction began on the Octagon this week, and liberals naturally took to social media to say that this was an affront to democracy.
If I thought that these critics were arguing in good faith, I would say that a bare-knuckle brawl on the White House lawn is the perfect distillation of American democracy. But of course, these critics aren’t arguing in good faith. It’s not about keeping the White House free of spectacle, or else they would have been furious when Joe Biden turned the lawn over to a bunch of half-naked transvestites. It’s about opposing anything that’s even a little bit affiliated with Trump.
Republicans have this problem, too. It was dumb to pretend it wasn’t awesome when Obama played basketball with <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2020/04/04/barack-obama-basketball-white-house-kobe-bryant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin Durant</a>. That was awesome! It was an incredible American moment, just like Dubya telling the White House press corps to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZ3Tjohwqo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“watch this drive</a>.” A UFC fight on the South Lawn, a concert on the National Mall: these are incredible spectacles, and it’s objectively cool that the president is involved. It would be cool if the president was a Democrat; it would be cool if the president was a different Republican.
Some things are too enjoyable to let politics get in the way. It’s why there are conservative Grateful Dead fans and liberals who love “Yellowstone.” It’s why Martina McBride didn’t object when Americans turned her song “Independence Day” — written from the perspective of a woman fleeing domestic violence — into a patriotic anthem in the wake of September 11.
The song’s writer, Gretchen Peters, has complained about the song’s new life, making it known that she donated her royalties from Sean Hannity’s show (which famously used “Independence Day” as its theme song) to <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/independence-day-martina-mcbride-real-meaning-855248/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Planned Parenthood.</a>
Not so McBride, who famously performed the song while flanked by two giant American flags at Farm Aid in 2001, shortly after attacks on the World Trade Center.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Q3LyECse3g?si=jySv9mDwogmdTuh4" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The singer would subsequently say that she had “mixed feelings about” that performance, because she doesn’t “want to take away from what the song is really about.” But she was very clear about the reason she leaned into a patriotic interpretation of the song when she did.
“We were all so raw … and trying to have solidarity and pulling together as a country,” she said. “When I realized that the words to that chorus, ‘let freedom ring,’ kind of mirror what we were all feeling at the time, I made that decision to do that.”
Some things are bigger than politics. Americans understand this. The president understands this. There was even a time when Martina McBride understood this. It’s a shame that she and her fellow performers lost sight of this truth.  But hey, there’s still time: maybe Trump can get <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hey-country-stars-do-the-right-thing-perform-on-the-national-mall">Morgan Wallen</a> or <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/country-musics-hottest-star-keeps-pointing-back-to-god" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ella Langley.</a>

HBO, Starbucks and Chase hosted the first free and open to the public Veterans Day Concert for Valor Tuesday, November 11, 2014 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to honor Americas veterans.

What The America 250 Concert Reveals About Our Broken Political Culture

America 250

bipartisanship

Donald Trump

Founding Fathers

Washington D.C.

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
This week took a sharp turn for President Donald Trump and his administration: not because of a national security matter or the southern border, but because a bunch of performers decided to bail on a celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
After initially agreeing to perform for the president’s Great American State Fair concert on the National Mall, Martina McBride, Bret Michaels, Young MC, Morris Day &amp; the Time, and The Commodores decided to drop out claiming they were unaware of the event&#8217;s “political affiliation.”
If you’re wondering who most of these people are, you’re not alone. Unless you spend your weekends shuffling through old 8-track collections at flea markets or garage sales, you’ve probably never heard of them. Which begs the question: Wouldn’t it be an honor for most of these “artists” to dust off their finest Zubaz pants and primp the perm one more time to perform in front of thousands of patriotic Americans? The answer is, of course, yes.
It’s certainly worth wondering how we got here. But I have a bigger question, one that I think is the most important thing we can take from this saga: Where are today’s country music superstars?
You can’t go a single election cycle without seeing the biggest musicians in the world put their unwavering support behind a Democratic candidate. Jay-Z and Beyonce famously campaigned with Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen cut ads for Joe Biden in 2020, and Bon Iver showed up to holler in a field for a Harris-Walz event in 2024.
They never seem to feel ashamed to “speak out” and “resist” on behalf of their fans. So, why do country stars?
Every week we see videos of Morgan Wallen selling out football stadiums, Ella Langley hitting the top of the charts with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/country-musics-hottest-star-keeps-pointing-back-to-god" target="_blank" rel="noopener">songs about God</a>, Riley Green putting out conservative-coded songs like “Different &#8216;Round Here,” and new artists like Dexter and the Moonrocks going viral through conservative Instagram reels. Country music is as hot as it has ever been — not because of pink-haired commie liberals, but because of hard-working, patriotic conservatives.
Go to a country concert these days. The parking lots are chock-full of lifted trucks with Trump-Vance stickers. Inside the venues you’ll often find more MAGA hats than band merch. American flags everywhere, Bible verses tattooed on forearms, and not a Bud Light in sight.
Everything conservatives are mocked for in Hollywood is celebrated at country shows. Americans realize this, and they behave accordingly: When certain country stars were swept up in the Left’s cancel culture crusades, conservatives were there selling out arenas and buying their merchandise. These fans have been there at every turn, as steadfast in their support of their musical icons as they are in support of their country.
It’s time country stars repaid the favor.
So what do you say, Morgan? Give the people what they want and dial up one of your famous walkouts with the greatest president of our lifetime — on the National Mall, celebrating the country that gave you everything. I promise your fans will love it because, unlike the Left, they actually love their country.
***
Brad Bishop is The Daily Wire’s senior vice president of public relations.

Morgan Wallen’s One Night At A Time 2024 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN – Night Two

Hey Country Stars, Do The Right Thing: Perform On The National Mall

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
She’s southern, stylish, and downright sensational. Ella Langley made history Sunday night, sweeping the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards with a whopping seven pieces of hardware, marking a win in every category in which she was nominated.
The 27-year-old Alabama native is arguably the hottest name in country music right now. Her hit &#8220;Choosin&#8217; Texas,&#8221; which won song and single of the year, holds the record for the most weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre Hot 100 by a female country artist. She broke the record set by Taylor Swift’s &#8220;We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together&#8221; in 2012. The smash hit also crushed every country chart by being the only country song by a woman to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, Hot Country, and Country Airplay charts all at the same time.
With records like that, it could be hard to be humble, but the one thing keeping Langley level-headed is her faith.
&#8220;All I gotta say is thank you God for putting me in a room with these three people right here,&#8221; Langley said after winning the award for Song of the Year with &#8220;Choosin’ Texas.&#8221; (The three people she was referring to are her co-writers on the song.)
She would return to the stage several times throughout the nearly three-hour award show for performances and more accolades, but when she took home the biggest honor of the night, she once again stopped to thank the man upstairs.
&#8220;Thank you, Jesus, for letting me do this for a living,&#8221; Langley said on stage after winning Female Artist of the Year.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="@ellalangleymusic Accepts the Award for ACM Female Artist of the Year [61st ACM Awards]" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oy0A337RAAE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
In the same speech, she openly talked about her struggles the morning of the award show and how praying helped calm her.
&#8220;Today I was having a strange day,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what it is about awards. I walked right into Lainey [Wilson]&#8217;s room, and I just got emotional, and she hugged me, wrapped me up, and started praying for me.&#8221;
In a world of award shows where faith is rarely mentioned, Langley&#8217;s language stood out. But her relationship with God is something she doesn’t shy away from in her speeches or her music.
In fact, on her sophomore album &#8220;Dandelion,&#8221; released last month, she sings explicitly about her faith. The track &#8220;Speaking Terms&#8221; is not about an on-again, off-again romantic relationship, but instead a relationship with God.
It eloquently depicts someone who doesn’t talk to God as much as she did as a child, opening up with the line, &#8220;I used to kneel beside my bed at night when I was small. It was easy as breathing, believing wasn&#8217;t hard at all. I knew that you were there close as my next prayer.&#8221;
The chorus focuses on reconnecting with God: &#8220;I&#8217;m waiting on a whisper, just something to confirm that you and me are still on speaking terms.&#8221;
Another song on Langley’s new album that has a faith focus is &#8220;Loving Life Again,&#8221; which the chart-topper wrote after spending some time reading her Bible back in Alabama last year.
&#8220;The last year of my life, 2025, is when it really got intense for me a little,&#8221; Langley told a concert crowd back in March of this year. &#8220;So I took a couple weeks off. I cancelled everything that I had … I got to spend two weeks sitting there with my mom and my daddy. I got to read my Bible and be next to my family in a way that I hadn’t gotten to do since I was 18 years old.&#8221;
Shortly after that message to fans at a show, Langley shared an Easter message to her nearly 4 million followers. On top of a video of her singing “Because He Lives” on her Instagram story, she wrote:
&#8220;Even though I’ve been a believer in Christ my whole life, my relationship with Him has changed drastically over the last year,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I started to have ‘faith.’ I started to view the days we have been given as a gift instead of a chore. I am so grateful for a God who leads with love and compassion. Thank you Jesus for giving me a way to spend eternity with you. I hope everyone had a great day. Happy Easter!&#8221;
While her faith was strengthened this last year, the &#8220;Dandelion&#8221; singer grew up in a small Baptist church just south of Montgomery, Alabama, where she sang before she knew how to read.
&#8220;I sang at church a lot. I learned how to read from singing hymnals,&#8221; she told Theo Von on the &#8220;This Past Weekend&#8221; podcast.
Her family recognized back then that Langley had a talent, and the practice she got in the pews every Sunday prepared her voice for a career in music. But her faith is what keeps her grounded as her skill and popularity grow.

Credit: David Becker/Getty Images

Country Music’s Hottest Star Keeps Pointing Back To God

Faith

family

The two gay dads who went viral for mocking their adopted baby crying for “mama” are getting trashed again, only this time it’s for quizzing their other adopted children on which of their dads is “hornier.”
The video of country singer Shane McAnally describing his adopted child as “homophobic” inspired social media users to start digging into old posts on his public social media accounts. Despite the massive amount of backlash, McAnally has not removed the video or gone private, opting instead to defend himself and express shock that so many people are upset.
In the latest video making the rounds, the person filming asks McAnally’s two other children a series of questions about him and his husband, instructing the children to select which father is “the best dancer” and “on their phone the most.” Among a series of innocent questions, one of the items that comes up is: “Who’s hornier?”
Thankfully, the children pause in confusion, with one saying, “What’s that?” as the men <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAbkKJkHmqh/">burst out laughing</a>.
Still, the clip has viewers reacting angrily to minors being exposed to sexual content.
“If that isn’t a red flag, I don’t know what is!!! WTF?!” one reaction <a href="https://x.com/MediumDebyOuld/status/2046518073994137971">said</a>. “Since when would children that age even know what horny means? And how would they then know which parent is the most horny? I think they need their hard drives investigating pronto!”
“Who talks to children like this? Disgusting,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/ceemorecutz/status/2046550391207100781">agreed</a>.
Other commenters shared links to recent court cases involving gay parents being prosecuted for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gay-couple-arrested-for-allegedly-sexually-abusing-creating-child-porn-with-adopted-sons">sexually abusing their adopted children</a>, including the case of two Georgia men who recorded themselves molesting brothers they had adopted and the U.K.-based gay couple who <a href="https://www.cps.gov.uk/north-west/news/cps-authorises-charges-against-two-men-following-death-13-month-old-boy-blackpool">raped and murdered</a> the 13-month-old they were in the process of adopting.
McAnally and his husband are still being criticized for mocking their newly adopted baby, calling out for “mama.”
“Hey, hey. Who do you want? Dada or Papa?” McAnally’s baby is asked in the video before he appears to reply “mama” as the men laugh.
“No, Mama. Do you want Dada or Pop?” the baby is asked again. “Who do you want? Dada or Pop?”
The baby again appears to ask for his mother before the man says, “There is no mama. I’m so sorry.” After the baby starts crying, the two men laugh at the reaction as they tell him he has “two choices,” but no mother. The video was captioned “who’s gonna tell him?” with the hashtags “comedy” and “standup,” as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/outrage-as-two-gay-men-mock-homophobic-baby-crying-out-for-his-mother">reported</a>.
The musician complained that the whole thing had been taken “out of context,” saying that he was “appalled” by some of the reactions he&#8217;s gotten.

The ‘Hornier’ Question Gay Dads Ask Their Young Kids

comedian

General

LGBTQ

Menu