Country Minute Podcast

More CMA drama. The CMA finally responds to Sammy Kershaw, he confirms he’s going to the show, and The Frontmen say they were once asked to pay $4,000 to attend with no red carpet. James and Laura break it all down and ask the bigger question: how should country music honor its legends? Then we dig into the second wave of CMA Awards performers, from Vince Gill and Hardy to Mumford & Sons and H...

The CMA red carpet controversy keeps growing. After Sammy Kershaw shared that he and his wife were turned away, Rodney Atkins says he got the same answer and won’t be attending at all. James and Laura break down the backlash and why this should have been an easy fix. Then we recap a big weekend: meeting Zac Brown backstage in Detroit and naming Blake Whiten the Country Minute Rookie of the Year fo...

Country legend Sammy Kershaw says the CMAs turned down his request to walk the red carpet at this year’s awards, a show that’s supposedly celebrating 90s country. James and Laura break down what happened, why it stings, and why Riley Green, Jake Owen, and more are rallying behind him. Then we run through the first wave of CMA Awards performers, including Ella Langley, Tim McGraw, Cody Johnson, Mir...

With the 60th Annual CMA Awards just two weeks out, James and Laura make their picks in every major category. Laura goes in blind, James brings the receipts, and we each put our names on a couple of upset picks we’re not backing down from. Before the predictions, Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas hits 26 weeks at No. 1, Zach Bryan surprises everyone, including the songwriter, with a cover of Ian Noe’s...

A slow weekend in country music means James and Laura get to have some fun. We recap Halloween, then break down Aerosmith’s surprise final shows at the Hollywood Bowl, featuring Eric Church covering "Rag Doll" and "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" and the Marcus King Band opening night two. Then it’s a guide to planning your 2027 festival season, and our case for why every country...

Emergency meeting, y’all. (Country) Minutes after we wrapped today’s episode, Morgan Wallen dropped the lineup for Sand in My Boots 2027, so James and Laura ran back to the basement for a bonus episode. The festival returns to Gulf Shores, Alabama, May 21 to 23, 2027, with Morgan Wallen, Kings of Leon, Ella Langley, Kygo, Third Eye Blind, Gucci Mane, Gavin Adcock, Koe Wetzel, Girl Talk, and a whol...

Happy Halloween from the basement. James and Laura kick off the weekend by revealing the four country acts that made Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 best rock songs of the 21st century, and whether Rolling Stone picked the right songs. Then, Florida names Seminole Wind its official anthem in honor of John Anderson, Alan Jackson’s farewell show at Nissan Stadium gets a TV premiere date, and Sand in...

Ella Langley is back at No. 1. James and Laura break down how Choosin’ Texas reclaimed the top of the Billboard Hot 100 after three weeks behind Taylor Swift, and whether Ella can fend off Tate McRae heading into the CMA Awards. Then, Boyz II Men have signed with Warner Records Nashville to make a country album, and we’re all in. Plus, Carly Pearce takes the World Series stage for the national ant...

James and Laura kick off the week with the story everyone was talking about: President Trump’s surprise roast of Jason Aldean at a campaign stop in Perry, Georgia. Then it’s Dolly Parton’s first posthumous release, a heavy cover of Jolene by Bad Wolves featuring Dolly’s original vocals, with proceeds benefiting her Imagination Library. We also cover Garth Brooks shutting down bot activity on his l...

Country music lost a legend this week. James and Laura remember John Anderson, who passed away just two days after attending the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and revisit the songs that defined his career, from Swingin’ to Seminole Wind. Then it’s a full review of the Dolly Parton tribute special: Ella Langley’s Jolene, Little Big Town stealing the show, Kristin Chenoweth and Carl...

Sand in My Boots is coming back. Morgan Wallen’s beach festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama took 2026 off, and nobody involved has said a word about it since. Then last week, a city official told the room at a coffee shop town hall that it returns in 2027. One local reporter wrote it down, and by the weekend all of country music knew. James and Laura break down how the news slipped out, why there was...

Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town singled James out in a room full of people, and Jason Aldean walked right past us at the Grand Ole Opry. James and Laura are back from a whirlwind week in Nashville with a lot to unpack. It started at the Grand Ole Opry, where Rhett Akins was inducted with help from the artists who made his songs famous: Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Jon Pardi, Jamey Johnson, and his...

Welcome to the Country Minute Show, the only show about country music made in a Michigan basement. James and Laura Shotwell of Country Minute sit down knee to knee to break down the biggest stories in country music, and in this first episode there is a lot to talk about. Ella Langley’s Tulsa show at the BOK Center was canceled hours before showtime because of a credible security threat. We talk ab...

About a month ago, we went to the Blue Gate in Shipshewana, Indiana to interview Brothers Osborne and do something we've never done before in a video, period. First, we sat down with TJ and John for about eight minutes to talk about their new album, Watertown. The guys explain why it took five records to finally write about their hometown of Deal, Maryland, why they went back home to announce...

Kentucky native Mary Kutter joins us at XROADS41 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for a conversation unlike anything we've done before. While we talked, a local artist sat a few feet away sketching a live caricature of the two of us, and you can watch it come together in real time throughout the episode. Mary opens up about cutting her teeth in Nashville as a songwriter for other artists before finding h...

Braxton Keith walked off stage at XRoads41 in Oshkosh and we followed him onto the bus. First time at this festival for us, first time for him too, and the first time he has ever opened for Wiz Khalifa, who was still landing on a PJ while Braxton was playing. He was supposed to be a dentist. His mom is a hygienist, his dad is a dentist, and both of them told him to stay out of the medical field be...

We caught Graham Barham backstage at Country Jam USA in his trailer, hooked up to an IV, on a day he flew in that morning and was flying out that night. He is a three shirt guy: the one he shows up in, the show shirt, and the one that goes on after. There is no going back to the first one. This is our second sit down with Graham, and it might be our most honest one. He talks about missing his best...

Blake Whiten was posting covers from his bedroom in Six Mile, South Carolina twenty five months ago. Last week he played Michigan Stadium with Morgan Wallen and sang a verse of "Up Down" in front of 90,000 people, which was also the first time he and Morgan had ever shaken hands. We sat down with him the next morning in Ann Arbor. He talks about dodging pyro, asking Hudson Westbrook for backstage...

Frankie Ballard is back, and this one meant a lot to me. We caught up at CMA Fest to talk about the last stretch of his career, the quiet years where he stepped away from country radio to start a family, and what it took to walk back through the door. Frankie and I have a lot in common. We are both Michigan boys, both dads to little ones, and both figuring out how to grow up in real time while cha...

Ashley Cooke stopped by Country Minute at CMA Fest right in the middle of what she calls a shift, a stretch where the momentum just keeps building and she cannot quite explain why. In this conversation she opens up about leaning all the way into the personal on her new self-titled album, the idea that getting more specific somehow makes a song more universal, and the breakthrough that led to the e...

James sat down with Shane McAnally at CMA Fest, and somehow captured lightning in a bottle. We chased this interview for nearly a full year, and Shane did not disappoint. This is, by far, one of the most personal conversations we've had on this show. Shane was just named the second greatest living country songwriter by Rolling Stone. But we start where it all began that week: his brand new one...

Colby Acuff is the country outsider leading a revolution that is anything but quiet. We sat down with the Idahoan singer-songwriter in the basement of The Intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan to talk about his headlining tour, his upcoming record, and why he is doing everything opposite this year. Colby just wrapped up a Whiskey Riff March Madness run where he beat Chris Stapleton and Turnpike T...

James sits down with 2025 Country Minute Rookie of the Year Zach John King backstage at the Blue Gate in Shipshewana, Indiana. Zach opens up about joining Thomas Rhett on the road this fall, the headlining run he's been low-key teasing, and why ticket sales are the only metric that really matters to him. He also breaks news on back-to-back releases coming in just a few weeks, including a Harry...

Gavin Adcock joins Country Minute backstage at US Bank Stadium before night two of Morgan Wallen's Still The Problem tour. Gavin walks us through the debut of his new song Wannabe, his plan to release new music every three weeks, and the next album taking shape. He previews his first arena headlining tour with a 25-foot longhorn stage piece and a drum riser that puts his drummer 15 feet in the...

Graham Barham joins us backstage at The Intersection in Grand Rapids on the final run of the Whiskey Rain Tour to talk about everything happening in his world right now. From the release of his new single “Break Up (Down)” to the viral success of “Country Music,” Graham opens up about blending country with club energy, paying homage to artists like Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line, and why now fe...