WHISKEY MYERS TOUR DATES JUL 17 Macon Amphitheater Macon, GA
Read MoreJUL 18 Coca-Cola Amphitheater Birmingham, AL JUL 19 Ascend Amphitheater Nashville, TN JUL 20 Salem Civic Center Salem, VA JUL 22 Roanoke Island Festival Park Manteo, NC JUL 24 Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre Charlotte, NC JUL 25 The Dome Virginia Beach, VA JUL 26 Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront Richmond, VA JUL 27 Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort Cherokee, NC AUG 7 Hayden Homes Amphitheater Bend, OR AUG 8 Hayden Homes Amphitheater Bend, OR AUG 9 Gorge Amphitheatre Quincy, WA AUG 12 The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley, CA AUG 13 The Greek Theatre Los Angeles, CA AUG 15 Lake Tahoe Amphitheatre Stateline, NV AUG 16 Yaamava’ Theater Highland, CA AUG 18 Arizona Financial Theatre Phoenix, AZ AUG 19 Isleta Amphitheater Albuquerque, NM AUG 23 Ruoff Music Center Noblesville, IN AUG 24 Hollywood Casino Amphitheater Earth City, MO AUG 26 Riverbend Music Center Cincinnati, OH AUG 27 Toledo Zoo Amphitheater Toledo, OH AUG 28 Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview Syracuse, NY AUG 29 Filene Center at Wolf Trap Vienna, VA AUG 30 Filene Center at Wolf Trap Vienna, VA SEP 1 Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion Gilford, NH SEP 18 First National Bank Arena Jonesboro, AR SEP 19 Laborde Earles Coliseum Alexandria, LA SEP 20 Brandon Amphitheater Brandon, MS SEP 25 Moody Amphitheater Austin, TX SEP 26 Paycom Center Oklahoma City, OK SEP 27 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Woodlands, TX OCT 9 Memorial Auditorium Chattanooga, TN OCT 10 Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC OCT 11 Riverfront Revival 2025 North Charleston, SC NOV 7 Moon Crush "Whiskey Moon" Miramar Beach, FL NOV 8 Moon Crush "Whiskey Moon" Miramar Beach, FL NOV 9 Moon Crush "Whiskey Moon" Miramar Beach, FL
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Raising hell and red dirt, and bringing some early whomp whack thunder, it is what they were born to do!
Palestine, TX country rock band Whiskey Myers triumphantly returned to the area after a brief postponement (their original June date was delayed as guitarist John Jeffers welcomed his second boy, Ozzy Jak on June 18), playing to a rowdy and fiercely loyal crowd outdoors at Starlight Theatre on a Saturday night in Kansas City.
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The three-act bill began with a talented and affable newcomer, Blake Whiten who is a 20-year-old singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist from Six Mile, SC, in support of his debut EP, Six Mile (named for his hometown). Like everyone on the lineup card, he blends Country and Southern rock with a slightly raspy vocal style that belies his young age.
Whiten just signed to Enchntmnt/Warner Records, and released the ballad, “Made for Goodbyes,” his debut major-label track which he played late in his short set. His initial single,
“Rollin’ Stone” caught fans’ and labels’ attention, garnering 25M+ streams, and he also co-wrote Bailey Zimmerman’s “Holding On,” so already has a healthy resume and will add to that when he begins his own headlining tour in September.
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Next up was the pride of Stillwater (Blair), OK – Read Southall and band, in support of a self-titled fourth full-length album, on their own Smokelahoma Records label. The energetic band plays their own kind of red dirt “rural rock n’ roll“ and is doing some headlining shows in-between as well, on their own Six String Sorrow Tour (named for his 2015 debut).
The new record is said to more collaborative between Southall and his crack five piece band (most are from OK as well)- Reid Barber- drums; Jeremee Knipp- bass; Braxton Curliss- keys; and dual guitarists John Tyler Perry and Ryan Wellman, and the band’s live interplay is a testament to that musical kinship and unspoken understanding they’ve built between them.
Southall reflected that his song “Gunshy” was already celebrating its tenth anniversary and remarked that the he and the band were fortunate enough to play the Grand Ol’ Opry last month before striking up the fan favorite ballad, “Why”.
The set built its momentum as it progressed, peaking near the end with the band’s own “Don’t Tell Me” mixed together with verses of the Blackfoot classic, “Mississippi Queen” followed by the initial single off the most recent album, “Scared Money” with Southall smartly changing one of the lyrics from OKC to “I’m finally sitting pretty in Kansas City”, to rave shouts and cheers.
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Finally, it was whiskey time- East Texas band Whiskey Myers has been on the scene for two decades now but still remain a bit of a best-kept secret from the mainstream. The band does unabashedly have its own line of liquor, an upcoming cruise fest weekend, and headlined their own Firewater Festival for three years in the Dancefestopia location of La Cygne, KS, so it’s hard to keep that secret around these parts, and as evidenced by its very loud and rabid fan base in the crowd.
The band proudly is at the forefront and waving the flag for the currently burgeoning red dirt country rock movement and is poised to begin their next chapter with their upcoming seventh studio album Whomp Whack Thunder, arriving Sept. 26 via the band’s own Wiggy Thump Records. The album’s lead single, “Time Bomb” is already making waves and was plugged into the band’s 100min. headlining set, about a third of the way in.
Things gone underway with the bubbling and brooding 2019 song, “Gasoline” and the collaborative interaction between guitarists John Jeffers and Cody Tate was apparent from early-on: trading riffs, playing off one another, in unison, and letting each take a turn at solos, as well as taking on lead vocals on a song each.
Vocalist/guitarist Cody Cannon seemed to take everything in stride, growling through songs, inciting the crowd with a peace sign from one hand and holding a Miller Lite in the other; and generally having a good time on stage- happy whether being center stage swinging his mic stand or deferring to others and staying in the background.
“Die Rockin’” had the crowd singing along to the chorus and most knew all of the lyrics to the ballad, “Broken Window Serenade,” one of multiple songs from the band featured in TV’s “Yellowstone”. Another new track, “Tailspin” from the upcoming album, was anchored by a confidently swaggering beat and was unflinching in its honest lyrics, with Cannon admitting, “If I’m going out, I’m going out in style, I’m headed for the bottom again”.
“Different Mold” with its thumping bass drum and slide guitar, was easy to coax the crowd to clap along to it, and slow dances broke out in the aisles during the tender ballad, “Trailer We Call Home.” 2019’s passionate “Glitter Ain’t Gold” about seeing a person for what they really are, led into the unmistakable harmonica intro of “John Wayne”, from 2022’s Tornillo album and which went Top 15 on the US digital rock charts.
Guitarist Jeffers took the lead for “Bitch”, their 2013 breakthrough hit, “Stone” (also heavily featured on Yellowstone) received the loudest applause of the night, and the band capped things with a raucous, bluesy, and somewhat deep-cut cover of 1972’s “Going Down” by the Jeff Beck Group.
No encore (that’s outlaw!) and none needed, as they made their musical statement and said good night – sometimes, less is more. For Whiskey Myers, it’s no bones and just about bringing their brand of whomp whack thunder.
(click on any image to enlarge and to see in full)
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WHISKEY MYERS at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City MO (2025-7-12)
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SOUTHALL at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City MO (2025-7-12)
John C ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥X / twitter.com ♥ bsky.ap |
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