Transcript

5.16.25 · Country Weekly

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to Country Weekly. We'll be reading from
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country news sources found online. Your host today only Today
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is Anne Glover. As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading
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service intended for people who are blind or have other
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disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. We
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are reading first from the Boot, our first article. Tim
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McGraw announces a new album with Hey Whiskey. Tim McGraw
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has a candid conversation with his favorite liquor in his
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new song Hey Whiskey. Here, McGraw personifies his favorite glass
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of whiskey as he chronicles the unwavering companionship. Listeners first
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get introduced to the mean spirited whisky in the opening
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verse as McGraw recounts how it's accompanied him through life's milestones,
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trying moments, and heartbreaks. All I ever did was give
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you my attention every night Friday night since I turned
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twenty two. I trusted you with my naive intentions. Hey Whiskey,
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What I ever do to you? I gave you every
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penny in my pocket. You help me lie and made
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me tell the truth, stayed out with you all night
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when you came a calling. Hey Whiskey, What I ever
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do to you, McGraw ponders helplessly in the first verse.
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The core of Hey Whiskey, however, finds McGraw ruminating on
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how Whiskeys betrayed him. It's a hard pill to swallow,
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especially after spending the bulk of his life with numerous glasses,
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only to be kicked to the curb by it. I
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let you stay, you made or leave. You made me
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say things I don't mean to the only girl that
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ever made me choose. I gave you everything I had,
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went to hell and can't get back the only thing
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I couldn't stand to lose. Hey Whiskey, Hey Whiskey, What
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I ever do to you? He muses, with disappointment coursing
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through his delivery. Hey Whiskey is the latest preview of
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McGraw's forthcoming new album, Standing Room Only, Do out in
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August the twenty fifth. The thirteen songs set includes its
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title track, which is currently number seventeen and rising on
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the media Base Country chart. Of his upcoming record, McGrath shares,
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as an artist, I'll always want to dig deeper and
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get better every time I make a new record. Is
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a big part of what drives me, and I really
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believe this is one of the best projects we've made.
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I've been working on this album since twenty twenty, and
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this collection of songs are some of the most emotional,
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thought provoking, and life affirming music I've ever recorded. I'm
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excited to have Hay Whiskey out so fans can start
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hearing more of what we've been working on and maybe
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even more in August. He adds. Exclusive album packages of
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Standing Room Only are available for pre order now at
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mc rath's merchandise store. And that is the end of
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the article. Our next story, Dirk Bentley and Jason Aldean
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are arguing over who would open for whom. Jason Aldean
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and Dirk's Bentley toured together way back in two thousand
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and five, and both country superstars agreed that it might
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be time to get the band back together, so to speak,
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for another round. But there's one hiccup, who would open
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for who at this iconic show. Bentley was a guest
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on Taste of Country Knights recently and I asked him
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if he would consider playing some shows with Aldine now
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that they are both top top headliners, because we're approaching
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twenty years since they did. The star was quick to
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say not only would he love to do that, he
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would volunteer to open for Aldane if that's what would
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it would take to make it happen. A week later,
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Aldine popped by a taste of Country Knight's studio and
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we told him what Bentley had said. I'm down, man,
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I'm always down to play shows and hang out with friends,
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Aldine says in response. Dear set it up as for
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who should open the show, essentially a debate of who's
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the bigger star. Aldine is indifferent. I don't care. I'll
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play whatever. He says. Let's get a show and figure
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it out. So it sounds like neither of them wants
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to claim being the quote bigger star. We picture them
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backstage pickering over who wants to do the other a solid.
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Aldine even doubled down on how much he loves his buddy, saying, hey,
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I love Dirk. One of the first tours I ever did,
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Dirk's was the headliner, and Miranda Lambert and I were
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each opening, and we would kind of flip flop opening
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each night. It was fun. We were all kind of
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new to the game, even Dirk's, even though he was headlining,
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he was new to that whole thing. The whiskey drunk
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singer recalled, it was just fun a bunch of young
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uns trying to figure out the business. I even offered
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up a location for the concert, Aldeane's one hundred and
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fifty acre a state in Tennessee, which Aldean laughed off
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and quipped, let's do it on your property. Although that
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would be sweet, the logistics would be a bit harder
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maneuvering around a zero point two acre backyard compared to
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one hundred and fifty acre. One nice try, Jason. Once
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the two headliners figure out who will open for who.
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Since they both offered, we can't present the idea to
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Lambert and hopefully get her on board. Maybe she wants
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to headline. Moving over to Taste of Country, we are
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reading about Blake Shelton. Blake Shelton is a farmer, but
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don't ask him to grow flowers stories by Evan Paul,
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published May fifteenth. Blake Shelton is a lot of things,
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but he's not a great flower farmer. In a chat
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with CMT recently, the star was asked to share something
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his fans might not know about him after his decades
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in the spotlight. Shelton is honest about his shortcomings on
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the farm. This especially is a struggle for him. I
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think fans would be surprised to know that I am
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a struggling flower gardener. Struggling, he admits. It's something that
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Gwen and I do together. But you know, if I'm
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going to plant flowers, I want to do like ten
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acres of flowers so I can use my equipment. My
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tractors really tear some crap up. Gwen Stefani's husband continues,
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so far not so good. Shelton, his wife, and her
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three sons have property in Oklahoma where he can quote
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tear some stuff up regularly. Shelton regularly shares updates from
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his tractor as he's writing around his property tending to
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his crops. When he's not there, he's in the studio.
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The country star just released his first new album in
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four years for recreational use only, and that was released
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May ninth. He credits post Malone with inspiring it to
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get inspiring him to get out there and make a
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new record. Find the Texas and Singer on Network Television
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on May twenty first, when he returns to the Voice
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for the season twenty five FINALI episode When we have
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the story. Also about Blake Shelton. Top ten Blake Shelton Songs,
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his greatest hits and best deep cuts. Taste of Country
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staff opinion. The commercial success of tracks from Shelton's twelve
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studio albums were certainly considered in making this list of
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the top ten Blake Blake Shelton songs. More than anything,
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we sought fan input via sales and direct input. What's
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your favorite Blake Shelton song and does it agree with
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our number? One? Below are The Voice Coach's fifty best songs.
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Lyrical integrity and production were also considered in this ranking.
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It's really hard to argue against any of the top five,
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but we understand if there's debate about placement. Heck, we
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encourage it, and I'm going to read maybe the top
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five number fifty. She's Got Away with Words. Songwriters Andy Albert,
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Mark Beeson and widerp wrote a clever country lyric, but
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the problem is it felt too personal from Blake Shelton.
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In twenty sixteen, this is the song that stopped Shelton's
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impressive streak of number one singles. Sonically, very few songs
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from this era stand apart from one another number forty nine.
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I'm going to read the lowest five and the top
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five number forty nine. Gunna Gunna isn't a bad song.
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A strong case can be made that it's better than
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some of the singles ranked ahead of it on this
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list of the top fifty Blake Shelton songs. Actually, the
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love Story from twenty fourteen just isn't memorable. Think about
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it at best, you said I remember that song, but
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more likely thought which one is that? And then I'm
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gonna skip to the top five. Number five Who Are
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You when I'm Not Looking? Joe Nichols cut this song
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several years before Shelton would make it his best love song.
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Both versions are exemplary. It starts with the songwriting lyrically.
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Who Are You when I'm Not Looking? Is more sensitive
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and poetic than anything else on this list. Each line
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is phrased as a question, and each question is one
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any women can relate to. The magic is in this
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hit maker's personal delivery. His range isn't needed for a
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subtle romancer that the greats would be proud of. Few
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country women will resist a warm smile when this number
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one hit returns begins. Number four God's Country, God's country
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rejuvenated Blake Shelton's career. The country rock song paints a
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vivid picture credit songwriters Hardy Devan Dawson and Jordan Schmidt,
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but it works so well because everyone who touched the
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song went for it one hundred percent. The chart topping
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hit is arguably his best of the last half decade
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and an easy pick for top ten on this list
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of his greatest songs, Number three, She Wouldn't Be Gone.
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There's no song in Blake Shelton's cat log that paints
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a heartbreaking picture with the same ease of She Wouldn't
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Be Gone, his number one song from two thousand and eight.
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He begins with Roadside Red Flower, If I'd only picked you,
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took you home, set You on the counter before his
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second meetered Stanza that goes yellow sunset, slowly dipping down
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in the rear view. Oh, how she'd love to sit
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and watch you. I couldn't have done that a whole
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lot more. I could have done that a whole lot more.
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The chorus of this song is where the tension lies. However,
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Shelton has told great stories before and delivered strong vocal
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performances plenty of times, but few songs find him so
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recklessly emotional as this ballad, it's almost unnerving to listen to.
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Number two, Mine Would Be You is a top five
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Blake Shelton song because of the twist at the end
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that just crushes your heart. It's a love song until
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suddenly it didn't. Jesse Alexander and Company wrote it, but
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it's the singer's energy that makes the song special. As
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with she Wouldn't Be Gone, there's a sense of panic
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so rare on the radio today. Shelton seems like such
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a cool character most of the time, but moments like
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this remind us of his gifts and number one Austin
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fans have and will continue to make a case for
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Austin as Blake Shelton's best song. It's certainly an all
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time great debut single, one that would work in any
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era of country music. Early in his career, the Oklahoma
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native relied on veteran songwriters and producers like Bobby Rat
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to shape the sound. These days, everything comes with a
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little more polish, which is fine and probably even necessary.
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You can't compare twenty year old tracks like Austin with
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modern songs like I'll Name the Dogs. Lyrically his newest
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material lacks depth when held up against the rich tapestry
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of the early hits. So many songs from Shelton's first
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two albums make the top ten or even the top
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twenty of this list for this reason. Austin at number one.
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It's tempting to select another for the sake of being bold,
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that doing so would be just dishonest, and that's the
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end of that list. Also from Taste of Country, Jason
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Aldeen isn't thrilled about his wife's expensive hobby do you
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really need that Jaso. Aldine and his wife Brittany mostly
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see eyda eye on money. They both like to travel,
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especially to tropical destinations, and they share a passion for
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acquiring real estate. But Brittany says she's got one extravagant
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hobby that sometimes yields some pushback from her superstar husband.
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There's an occasional do you really need that car, the
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singer's wife admits during a recent round of fan Q
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and A on her Instagram stories. Brittany says she's not
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buying cars just for the sake of buying them. Collecting
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cool vehicles is her personal hobby. When she and Aldine
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come out for a drive together. She's almost always in
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the driver's seat. She gets carsick when she's not behind
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the wheel, so the family gets a lot of use
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out of her car collection too. It's not totally clear
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how many or what kind of cars Brittany owns, but
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based on her wish list for the future, it seems
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like she's got a flare for old school luxury. In
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another slide, she says her dream car would be a
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vintage Bronco or Defender. Jason says, I won't be happy
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with one, but I'm still thinking about it, she adds.
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A singer's wife also points out that she's smart about
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where my money goes and that she's worked hard to
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be financially independent in order to afford an expensive hobby
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like car collecting. I haven't stopped working since I was fifteen,
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so I don't ask for anything more than anyone else,
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she says. On top of that, she says that as
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she ages, her taste in other luxury items is dwindling
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and she's finding appreciation for the simple stuff. Honestly, the
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older I get, the more I want to travel, to
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be with my little fam own and animals, and live
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a country life. Brittany goes on to say it's no
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wonder that all Bean is sometimes skeptical about his wife's
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car habit. He doesn't seem to share her passion for
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this particular form of extravagance. Last year, he told Taste
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of Country that he does that he does own a
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ferrari as his little fun car, but he mostly alternates
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between that and one other daily driver, his truck. And
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that's the end of that story. Our next story. Reba
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McIntyre admits that she was dreading coaching The Voice at first.
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Reba McIntyre just re upped her coaching gig on The
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Voice her whole new season. In an interview on Late
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Night with Seth Myers, she says she can't wait to
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be back on set, but that's a completely different point
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of view than she had when she signed on to
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do her first season with the show. I was really
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dreading it first, the singer admits, because I don't want
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to tell anybody they suck. McIntyre talked about that in
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the past. In twenty twenty, she said that a show
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runner that Showrunners offered her the coaching job for the
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show's very first season Back in twenty eleven, at that time,
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she said no for the same reason she didn't want
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to cush contestant crush contestant's dreams of making it in music. Instead,
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that role went to Blake Shelton, who remained a coach
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on the show for an impressive twelve consecutive years. During
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that twenty twenty interview, McIntyre said she had some regrets
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about turning it down. After you see a very successful show,
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you're like, shoot, I should have done that, she continued,
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But McIntyre got a second chance when Shelton stepped down
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in twenty twenty twenty three. She served as a coach
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for three consecutive seasons, took a break for one, and
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is now returning for season twenty eight. Now, the singer
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says that the part of the show she worried about
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sending talented singers home isn't as bad as she thought
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it would be. The way we did it the first
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time I was on the Boys, it was more helpful
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and encouraging, McIntyre continues, And the coaches that are coming
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back now, Snoop Michael and myself, myself and Neil Niall,
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we're nice people. We encourage, we lift up. Season twenty
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eight of The Voice is set to premiere this fallen NBC.
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It'll run concurrently with the second season of McIntyre's situation
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comedy Happy's Place, which features some of the original cast
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and crew of her two thousands show rebook. The singer's boyfriend,
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actor Rex Lynn also plays a character on the show.
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And that's the end of the story. And there's no
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shortage of collaborations between men and women, women and women,
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or two men. We cut it down to oh, I
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think all right. The last sentence was Rex Lynn also
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plays character on that show. Taylor Sheridan reunites with nineteen
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twenty three star Brandon Skleener for a new project, The
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Stories by Sterling Whittaker. It was published May fourteenth of
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twenty twenty five. Taylor Sheridan has wrapped the second and
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final season of his smash hit Yellowstone prequel nineteen twenty
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three with the acclaimed writer and director, who is not
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done working with one of the stars of the show,
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Brandon Sqleeener. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan has struck
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a deal with Warner Brothers Discovery for a film titled
21:03
Fast f Period, a period s period t which includes
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Scleener as its star and nineteen twenty three director and
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cinematographer Ben Richardson as director. Scleener played the role of
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Spencer Dutton in nineteen twenty three, and he also appeared
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in one of twenty twenty four's most high profile films,
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It Ends with Us. The package deal for Fast also
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includes David Hayman and Jeffrey Clifford of Heyday Films as producers.
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Sheridan and Jenny Wood of Bosque Ranch Productions are in
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negotiations to also serve as producers of the film, which
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Sheridan wrote in the twenty tens, prior to the mess
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of success of Yellowstone that launched him to become one
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of the most prolific and powerful showrunners on television. He's
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best known as a feature film writer, this time at
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the time with Cecario and Hell or High Water both
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under his belt. The premise of Fast sounds like it
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draws on some of the same things as Cecario. The
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movie follows a former Special Forces operator who the DEA
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taps to lead a black op strike team against a
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group of drug dealers who are under the protection of
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the CIA. Warners picked the film up in twenty eighteen,
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with Sheridan hoping to direct and Chris Pratt in talks
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to Starr. The studio changed its mind when COVID came
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along and disrupted the entire film industry, and the film
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got lost in a no man's land between the older
22:48
model of theatrical release and the newer streaming model that
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took hold even more during the pandemic. In the years since,
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Sheridan has become one of the most bank writer director
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producers on TV, with a string of hit shows that
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includes not only Yellowstone and its various spin offs, but
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also Landman, Lioness Tulsa, King Mayor of Kingston and Moore.
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According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Sheridan is under
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strict contract to Paramount Plus and negotiations to allow him
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to work outside of that contract were tricky. Some aspects
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of the negotiations are still underwear, and Paramount has to
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grant Sheridan a carve out from his deal so he
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can serve as producer on Fast. So far, there are
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no further details about the cast of Fast, and it's
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not clear when the film is slated to go into production.
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Warners has set a theatrical release date of April of
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twenty twenty seven. That's the end of the story. THEO
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Vaughn throat grabbed fan and everyone had the same response.
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Podcast host and comedian Theovonn was caught on camera grabbing
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a man by the throat and pushing him away to
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the naked eye. It looked like an unprovoked attack, but
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the response on social media hasn't been sympathetic to the
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singer who approached Vaughn. Stranger Sorry, stranger who approached Vonn.
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TMZ shared video and details about what happened at a
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Nashville bar called the twelve thirty Club on May second.
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Police were involved, although no charges to have been pressed.
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Theovonn hosts a podcast called This Past Weekend. He was
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in Nashville for a stand up comedy show Across the
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Street and the identity of the man with the balloons
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is unknown. In the video, the man and an unidentified
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companion are seen holding balloons. They approached Theovonn, who quickly
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ca turns and seems to reprimand them. The comic then
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puts his hand on the man's neck and pushes him
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away before saying something more. If the situation escalated beyond
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that it didn't make it to the video. In the
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comments section on TikTok, viewers are overwhelmingly supportive of THEO Vaughn.
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THEO is super nice, says Tony Ramirez. Whatever that guy
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did to get THEO? That mad team THEO on this one?
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Why was the guy all in his personal space? Asks
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another Looks like this guy was annoying him before the
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videos started too. I don't blame THEO, says a user
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named Brett. Others found humor in the interaction with someone
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who calls themselves Refrigerator, saying everybody forgot He's a white
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boy from Louisiana with a mullet. He knows how to fight.
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One or two people picked team STRs, but several others
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point out that the mere presence of a recording device
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was an indication that the couple were planning a stunt.
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T m Z adds that a source told them the
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stranger was with a group who were harassing THEO. They
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allegedly used threatening language to provoke him. Police in Nashville
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admit they responded to a complaint on May fourth, but
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that no action is going to be taken and that's
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the end of the story. And then there's a story
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here about famous country feuds, and will read as much
26:36
of that as we can. A few of these famous
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country music feuds were settled peacefully. The rest there are
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more than a hindful of artists who just won't talk
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to each other. Charlie Rich versus John Denver. This feud
26:51
can be summarized in one ugly televised event, when Rich
26:55
burned the card that announced John Denver as the CMIA
26:59
and Entertainer of the Year in nineteen seventy five. It's
27:03
easy to believe Rich was protesting, perhaps believing that Denver
27:08
was too pomp to join a top country award. His
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son later explained that the jokester was just drunk. However,
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more or less cost Rich's career. It's not clear if
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he and Denver ever set things right. Johnny Cash versus
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The Grand Old Opry. Johnny Cash is one of the
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very few artists to be banned from the Grand Old Opry.
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He earned his banishment after smashing the floor lights out
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with a microphone in nineteen sixty five. Thankfully, the two
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sides made up before Cash died. Tim McGraw versus Curb records.
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Tim McGraw's battle with Curb was especially nasty. Curb sued
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the singer in twenty eleven, claiming to reach a contract.
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He counter sued to get out of the contract, which
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he claimed was slanted and unaffair. In thirteen, McGraw prevailed
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when a judge threw out the last of Kerb's arguments,
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and he has gone on to a very successful career
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with Big Machine. And this concludes the reading of Country
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Weekly for this week. If you have comments or suggestions
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about this program, and again I'm not the regular host,
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so please be gentle, please call us at eight five
28:24
nine four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for
28:27
joining me and on behalf of everyone here at RADIOI.
28:31
This is Anne Glover, wishing you a great day.