Many of you think that Morgan’s first brush with stardom came during season 6 of “The Voice”. Although he obviously had talent, he was eliminated during the playoff round.

Turns out…his career might’ve had a much earlier start. But momma said “I don’t think so”

During a recent golf tournament, Morgan was talking about his childhood. He mentioned that he used to sing in his hometown church. He also asked for a fiddle at the tender age of five. But then he revealed that he was offered a contract to sing Southern Gospel music when he was just seven!

So what happened? Well, his mom didn’t think he was ready. She turned the deal down so that Morgan could “be a kid”.

So yes…Morgan Wallen’s career could have had a much earlier start and a much different track. But things have worked out alright for Morgan. And after all…momma knows best!

Season 23 of American Idol is now in the record books, and one of the big questions is: will Carrie Underwood return to her judges chair?

Carrie’s first season after replacing Katy Perry had it’s rough spot, but she definitely got more comfortable in the role alongside Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. She also drew criticism, most recently for what was perceived as a “less than enthusiastic” response to Jamal Roberts being named the winner.

So…will she or won’t she?

Why would she not come back? One word: family. Carrie has a husband and two children back on the Tennessee farm, along with lots of critters. She’s made no secret of how important home life is to her. She would be the fourth “one-and-done” AI judge.

Need a reason for her to return? How about 10 to 12-1/2 million of them? That was Carrie’s reported salary for doing a pretty fun job with few responsibilities. Seriously…could you turn down that kind of money to go back to your job?

The waiting begins…and we probably won’t know for sure until August. That’s usually when the formal announcement is made about judges for the upcoming season.

Time has announced it’s first ever list of the Top 100 philanthropists, and two country music icons made the cut.

The publication announced that both Eric Church and Dolly Parton are being honored for both their commitment to philanthropy and their “respective visionary approaches”, despite the fact that they each represent different generations in the genre.

Dolly was named a “Titan” by the magazine, seeing as how she does so much for her home state of Tennessee and also internationally through her Dollywood Foundation. There have been donations of $1 million to both hurricane relief efforts and in the fight against COVID.

As for Church, he was honored as a “Trailblazer” after his “Concert for Carolina” raised more than $24 million for hurricane relief. That project is also seeing 100 new homes being built for families displaced by the storms.

Hats off to Dolly Parton and Eric Church…along with all who reach out to help those in need.

He’s a bigtime country star with boatloads of fans…but he’s also a devoted family man. So it was no surprise recently when he announced that he was scaling back his schedule to spend more time at home.

But he’s not retired…not by a longshot!

Luke took to social media to thank his legion of fans for supporting his decision to take some time off. But he added that he misses his fans, and has some big plans for 2026. “I got a big tour next year. So a new record coming up, new tour. I’m just excited, man. And I’m back.”

As for the rest of this year, his calendar includes some festival dates. But next year…you heard the man: he’s back!

But he’s never really been gone. Either way…great news for us all!

Gary, Joe Don, and Jay just wrapped up their triumphant return to the road with the 21 date “Life Is A Highway Tour”. Of course, hitting just 21 cities meant that lots of fans would’ve had to make a really long road trip to see the band. And our local fans were in that boat.

Well, one of them will be on stage in Kansas City next weekend…and isn’t one of them better than none?

Jay DeMarcus, the band’s bass player, was announced as part of the celebrity line up for the 2025 Big Slick charity event. Big Slick is a weekend long fundraiser for the Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. It includes a celebrity softball game at Kauffman Stadium and a night of fun and entertainment. It’s hosted by KC natives Rob Riggle, Jason Sudekis, Heidi Gardner, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and our favorite Wildcat fan Eric Stonestreet. DeMarcus joins a star-studded lineup of guests that includes Kevin Pollak, Kenan Thompson, Johnny Knoxville, Logan Mize…and a couple of football players you may have heard of: Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes.

For more information check out bigslickKC.org

What a night for Lainey Wilson!

The Louisiana native scored Female Artist/Songwriter, Vocalist, Album, and the biggest award of the evening…Entertainer of the Year! In her acceptance speech, Lainey spoke of when she was a child and would try to entertain her family by singing and dancing. She said the family would take the deer spotlight off the charger, turn off all the lights, and put young Lainey in the spotlight. She concluded her remarks by thanking “everyone”!

Other big winners included Chris Stapleton (Male Vocalist), Cody Johnson-Dirt Cheap (Song of the Year), Old Dominion (Group of the Year), and Brooks & Dunn (Duo of the Year).

The night also featured some incredible performances. They wasted no time out of the gate by treating us all to a medley of six decades of ACM hits performed by Reba, Clint Black, Little Big Town, and Wynonna.

As for me, the best performance was easily when host Reba teamed up with Miranda Lambert and Lainey Wilson for “Trailblazer”…their new song that honors all the women in country music who came before them and blazed the path.

Last and certainly not least…Reba’s hosting gets five stars out of five!

The Fox reality show “The Masked Singer” had their finale last night, crowning a season 13 champion. And now that all the contestants have been unmasked, we now know that two country stars were among the top four!

First to be revealed: Brian Kelley was revealed to be under the Mad Scientist costume. Over the course of the competition, he had turned in amazing renditions of songs from Sugarland, Justin Bieber, and Shawn Mendes. Before being unmasked, some of the judges thought he might be a different half of a star duo-Ronnie Dunn, a comparison that Kelley took as a huge compliment.

As for the big winner? The character Pearl took home the trophy, and was revealed to be the Redneck Woman herself: Gretchen Wilson! Just over a year ago, Gretchen was in a wheelchair recovering from an injury. In fact, she was just out of her walking boot when she agreed to do the show. Wilson said she had been approached several times about joining “Masked Singer, but had been hesitant. “Am I too old for this? What are my real chances?”

Turns out her chances were excellent!

On the eve of Reba once against hosting the ACMs, the Queen has another thing going.

You may remember that on her sitcom “Reba”, her character became a realtor. Now, life imitates art…sort of. Reba is the face of the new campaign from realtor.com. In the ads, she brings that irresistible down-home charm to couples who are stressing over the home-buying experience. With her warm smile, she points out the website app which instantly makes their experience stress-free.

Not only does Reba star in the ads, she also lends that distinctive voice to the company’s jingle.

Just this past weekend, the Kentucky Derby took place. That race is the first of what is known in horse-racing circles as the triple crown.

No, Keith Urban hasn’t started racing horses, but he will be presented with a special Triple Crown award Thursday night at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

You see, over the course of his amazing career he has been named ACM Top New Male Vocalist (2001), Top Male Vocalist (2005 & 2006), and Entertainer of the Year (2019). So he has completed the “triple crown” of ACM awards.

Keith is the first artist to be recognized for this achievement since Carrie Underwood back in 2010.

The 60th Annual ACM Awards will be streamed Thursday night at 7pm CST on Prime. Reba McEntire is hosting.

It’s customary in the world of big-time music tours for the headliner to give gifts to their opening acts as a way of saying thanks. These gifts are usually nice but not necessarily extravagant. This last tour, Kenny Chesney apparently had a “hold my beer” attitude.

After wrapping up his 2024 Sun Goes Down Tour, Kenny gifted Megan Moroney a gift that was so big it couldn’t be shipped. He had a sauna installed at her house!

Now how did Kenny pull it off? Megan suspects he had someone from her team provide a little “inside help”. That’s probably true, since he had the sauna custom built attached to her house.

Kenny got Megan interested in saunas and ice baths on the tour, so this gift was not only extravagant but also very practical.