Kitchens should not only be places we enjoy, but also spaces we’re happy to show off to visitors – and this laundry hamper hack will help you do just that.
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Day: March 6, 2026
Ella Langley recently revealed the very unusual way a pet kangaroo helped spark the idea for her historic hit, “Choosin’ Texas.”
According to the rising country star, years ago she heard about the time Miranda Lambert got pulled over with her pet kangaroo in the car. Langley traced that story back to when she was 18 years old and had met a man named Scotch Taylor at what she describes as being “a redneck Top Golf” in Montgomery, Alabama. Scotch was the first person she had come across who had a connection to Lambert.
“He told me this story about her having a kangaroo and then getting pulled over with the kangaroo in the car. And I had so many questions about that,” Langley told Audacy’s Katie Neal. “And every time I’ve ever seen her, I wanted to ask about it, but I wait. I’m like, ‘This isn’t the right time. We’re on the red carpet. You can’t ask about that now.’”
She eventually grew a close enough bond with Lambert that she was able to ask her about that story during a songwriting session together.
“Straight up, I was like, ‘Did you ever have a pet kangaroo at one time?’ She goes, ‘I did. I had a pet kangaroo.’ And she literally rerouted places on her tour because there were places that wouldn’t have a kangaroo. She brought it on tour…she said one day she was riding dirt roads and she had a dog in the back and the kangaroo in the passenger seat and she ended up getting pulled over on this dirt road and somehow talked her way out of this ticket,” Langley explained.
She then joked that the cop likely could easily tell that Lambert was from Texas, not just from her Texas license plates, but also from the chaos unfolding in the car. Suddenly, the iconic line, “she’s from Texas, I can tell,” that we now know from the chart-topping hit fell out.
“That’s kind of how I come up with a lot of songs is it’s really just in conversation and I’ll say a phrase that I like or something just catches my ear.”
Within the span of an hour, the song came to life with Lambert throwing in her own ideas until the clever story was complete.
“We’ve all experienced a feeling like that where you’re so into somebody and they’re not in you, they’re into somebody else, way more than you and that sucks. So we really wrote to that feeling…I’ll never forget us getting the line, ‘He always loved Amarillo by morning.’ I’ll never forget her saying that. And we both went, ‘I should have taken that as a warning.’ And that easy, fell out. And it was just one of those kismet things. And I mean, we all love that song.”
“Choosin’ Texas” has become an absolute fan-favorite for country music lovers and beyond. It has made such waves that it rose to the No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Ella Langley the first woman to lead the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, and Country Airplay charts simultaneously. It also claimed the top spot of the Mediabase Country Audience, Billboard Country Streaming Songs chart, Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart, SiriusXM’s The Highway Hot 30 Countdown, and UK Country Radio.
Much like this beloved track, the Alabama native says just about every other song on her next album, Dandelion, came together effortlessly. Each of these songs also offer deeply personal stories that capture where she’s at in life right now, while intertwining elements of reflection and joy. A good example of this is an unreleased track titled “Lovin’ Life Again,” which she teased “might or might not be” the next single.
“I took some time off last year because I had to. I was just, it’s too much. It got too much. This job became too much. It became more important than me, more important than my health, more important than the human version of me,” Langley said. “I came back from that little break and I was hanging out with my friend Ernest and he asked how I was doing and he was somebody I talked to a lot about my mental health. Him and Miranda were my two last year, really. But I said, ‘Just like that, I’m back to lovin’ life again.’ And I mean, immediately we were both like, ‘Ooh.’ And the song just kind of fell out.”
From the very start, Langley says she knew what this album would look like. She had vision boards laid out, she had colors picked out, she knew the title, and all the songs eventually came together under that umbrella. As a result, she feels this will be the project where people listen to the songs and think, “That’s where the artistry clicked for her.”
“I love this record. I love making this record. I can’t wait to perform this record. It represents me in a way that I don’t think I have represented myself and the fact that I think it’s a little more feminine. I think it’s womanly,” she added.
The post Ella Langley Reveals How Miranda Lambert’s Pet Kangaroo Sparked The Idea For ‘Choosin’ Texas’ appeared first on Country Now.
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While Costco certainly sells name-brand items, this retailer doesn’t offer as many as a typical supermarket. There are a few reasons for this.
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Remember Sara Evans’ First No. 1 Hit?
It wasn’t until her second album that the Missouri native scored her first chart-topper. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
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Celebrating a milestone birthday in style, Ali Larter proves that 50 is just a number. Her latest photos are turning heads! Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Dusty Black is living proof that it’s never too late to chase your dreams. After years of working as CEO of Black Tie Moving, a major personal loss shifted the course of his life and set him on a path to pursue country music alongside his business endeavors. Now, with his brand-new self-titled EP, Dusty is ready to show the world what he’s capable of.
The Texas-born, Memphis-raised country singer hails from a family with deep musical roots. His grandfather, Floyd Black “Junior,” played banjo and guitar in Johnny Cash’s band. Although Floyd passed away when Dusty was young, his passion for music still resonates through him as he follows in his footsteps. Black also inherited his love for the genre from his late father, Allen Black, who introduced him to the magic of traditional country storytelling.
“My father would drive from Memphis to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and it was about a six-hour drive every other weekend. And he would just literally blare ’90s country music the whole way for six hours. And we’d both sing it to the top of our lungs, and those were some of the best memories that I have with him,” Black told Country Now.
Black says he also witnessed his dad work “endlessly and tirelessly” to provide for his family, which in turn inspired him to want to do the same for his two daughters. He first found success in California working as founder and CEO of Black Tie Moving Company, but after his father’s passing, he decided life was too short to not do what you love.
He stepped away from the business about five years ago, allowing him to pour his focus into a new passion, and then returned to his role a year ago. Along the way, at 37, he began pursuing his childhood dream of becoming a country singer-songwriter, something his dad always believed he could do.
“My friends who were artists and songwriters in the industry, I think they saw the same thing that my dad did. They knew that I wanted to do it. I just didn’t really know where to begin and felt that my prime had passed because I started this thing a little later in life than they did. But you know what? It’s never too late to chase those childhood dreams that we have,” he stated confidently.
So around six years ago, Dusty Black started to build his music career independently alongside a core group of people in the industry who saw his potential and chose to invest in him as an artist. He signed with QHMG / Stone Country Records about a year and a half ago and then dedicated his days to listening to hundreds of outside songs to find the best ones to cut for his first project under the label.
Black went in with the “best song wins” mentality and luckily, he had a lot of friends that doubled as talented songwriters in town who could write stories that he related to on a deeply personal level. This resulted in him compiling six outside cuts that introduce his signature sound, offering a delicate blend of soulful contemporary country with everything from gritty, rural rock anthems to heartfelt songs about love, heartbreak and family.
“These songs are the first songs that we really felt passionate about and that I related with and that hit home…they’re songs that definitely tell a story, and I think it’s one that most of us can relate to. And I think that’s important in country music,” he explained.
Dusty Black opens with “Don’t That Sound Like Her,” a true heartbreak country song about a girl who steals hearts and then leaves them broken. He describes her as being an unforgettable figure in his life, someone who he thought was his best friend and the one who he’d be with forever until she decided to end it all. The sweet romance of the track’s opening verses evolves into full-blown fit of pain as Black reveals the hell she put him through.
Black admits his personal experiences with heartbreak closely align with this story, and based off the positive reaction it’s gotten from fans, it’s clear it’s hit close to home for his listeners too.
The project continues with “In That Case,” “Goodbye Drives Me Crazy,” and “Dust Off of Me” before closing out with “I Don’t Wanna Be Right,” and prideful ode to rednecks and the country way of life. In the middle also lies the incredibly powerful tribute about a father’s relationship with his son, “Curveball.”
The country singer explains he had this title sitting in his notes for around 10 years before Jordan Walker, Chris DuBois and Lynn Hutton finally brought it to life. It turned out to be his dad’s favorite song he’d heard before he died. Black recalls playing baseball growing up with his dad acting as his coach both in the game and in life.
“When he was alive, we used to sit on my back porch with guys like Jordan Walker and Mitchell Timpenney and Dylan Schneider and Morgan Wallen and Taylor Phillips and all these…We were all really good friends and we would sit on my back porch and my dad just soaked it all in,” Black explained. “And to put his favorite song out in ‘Curveball’ meant a lot to me.”
By putting out these songs and sharing his journey, Dusty Black hopes to encourage listeners with the message that no matter where you are in life, you can always change directions and start new. Aside from the millions of streams he’s racked up or the opportunities to open for artists like Rascal Flatts, Stoney LaRue and Lauren Alaina, nothing will be more successful in his eyes than inspiring his daughters, at 12 and 14, to pursue their own dreams.
“I think at the end of the day that we have to spend time with the people that we love and invest in those things and believe in ourselves … My dad always, he believed that I could do anything in this world. I passed that down to my girls.”
This project is just a small taste of what Dusty Black has in store. He teased he is already halfway through his next album with 13 or 14 songs finished and is feeling eager to continue his momentum and build his catalog even more.
“As excited as I am about all of these songs and this project, I’m even more excited about what we have coming for you guys.”
Dusty Black EP Track Listing:
1. “Don’t That Sound Like Her”(Houston Phillips, Kyle Schlienger, Kyler Weston)
2. “Goodbye Drives Me Crazy”(Josh Mirenda, Gary Garris, Houston Phillips)
3. “Curveball”(Jordan Walker, Chris DuBois, Lynn Hutton)
4. “Dust Off of Me”(Connie Harrington, Houston Phillips, Heath Sanders, Josh Dunne)
5. “In That Case”(Heath Sanders, Chris Stevens, Jordan Walker)
6. “I Don’t Wanna Be Right”(Nate Kenyon, Matt Gorman, Cooper Van Bascom)
The post Dusty Black Steps Out of the Office and Onto the Stage appeared first on Country Now.
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An orphaned brown bear cub captured near Mud Bay in 2006 has died after two decades in captivity.
The Minnesota Zoo announced Feb. 24 that staff euthanized the bear after its arthritis and severe joint degeneration worsened over the past year. He was one of three orphaned brown bears raised together and later featured in the zoo’s “Russia’s Grizzly Coast” exhibit.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game records do not extend before 2010, leaving few official details about the cub’s condition when he was captured. But, according to a story in the July 20, 2006 edition of the Chilkat Valley News, the cub was about 60 pounds when it was captured near a Mud Bay home on July 13 of that year.
State wildlife biologists said it had apparently been fed dog food for about a week before it was captured. “The bear appeared to come to the sound of dog food being poured in the bowl. He was being fed and on a schedule. He knew the cues and came right up. It didn’t seem to bother him at all that we were there,” Fish and Game biologist Ryan Scott is quoted as saying at the time. A family that lived nearby was given a warning for feeding the bear, according to the article.
Once the wayward bear was picked up in Haines, he was taken to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where he joined up with what would eventually become a trio of young bears captured by state biologists that year. There was Sadie, named after a creek near Kotzebue where she was found. Then in July came Haines. In August, a hunter shot a sow on the Kenai Peninsula and later discovered she had cubs.
It was at the conservation center where Diana Weinhardt first encountered and named Haines in what would become a decades-long relationship between Minnesota and Alaska. Weinhardt worked at the conservation center from 2005 to 2007. She helped care for, and named, all three cubs as they arrived
“I sometimes referred to them as the layers of chocolate,” Weinhardt said. “Kenai was caramel. Sadie was milk. Haines was very dark.”
All three cubs were in their first year and were neutered or spayed before spending their lives together at the zoo. Sadie was the smallest, but could keep the boys at bay.
“What Sadie wants, Sadie gets,” Weinhardt said. “Those boys sometimes were double her size and she’d back them both up at the same time.”
Then-conservation center staff member Diana Weinhardt said zoos and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums had made a joint decision not to breed black and brown bears anymore. “There were enough nuisance animals that we couldn’t provide homes for all of them,” she said.
The bears eventually moved to the Minnesota Zoo’s “Russia’s Grizzly Coast” exhibit, designed to recreate a rugged northern coastal ecosystem. The enclosure included a large outdoor habitat with a pool, a dig pit and year-round access to covered outdoor space.
The bears also had an indoor den where visitors could watch their behavior through soundproof glass.
“It’s one of the best bear exhibits in the country,” Weinhardt said.
“It had a storyline of the coast of Russia where all of these animals were found in the wild,” Weinhardt said. “Amur leopard, wild Russian boar, brown bears, sea otters, Amur tigers. So the storyline was very strong.”
It wasn’t just the three bears. When guests entered the exhibit they first saw four otters – three of whom were found as orphans off the coast of Alaska. That included Capers, who was found near his dead mother in Kachemak Bay; Jasper, who was rescued near Homer; and Rocky who was found abandoned near Craig.
“Alaska orphans really kind of carried half of the exhibit,” Weinhardt said.
Weinhardt now holds the title of Curator of the Northern Trail, which means she’s in charge of the keepers who take care of the animals and the exhibits. But, their building is across from her office. “To this day, I still go there for my visits. Keepers do 100% of the work with them, but there’s still a bond,” she said.
Weinhardt said the bears developed distinct personalities as they aged. Sadie was strong-willed, Kenai was curious about people, and Haines grew into a lanky protector.
“Haines was just very well behaved. He stood up on his back legs a lot. Kenai would get scared and he would run to Haines,” she said.
In a newsletter farewell tribute to Haines, zoo staff described him as calm, collected and clever. “Keepers say he had a knack for doing the least amount of work for the maximum reward of food during enrichment sessions.”
Haines is the second of the trio to die. Kenai was found dead in his enclosure two years ago. Weinhardt said they had been treating him for cancer. Weinhardt said one keeper has been with the three bears since they came to Minnesota.
“That’s what’s tough about the zoo field, you have these really strong bonds,” she said.
State bear biologist Anthony Crupi said 20 years is a solid lifespan for a captive male brown bear, though Weinhardt said she’s seen captive bears live longer, particularly early in her career.
“When I first started in the late 1970s, bears in captivity were living in their late 20s, early 30s,” she said.
Improvements in veterinary care and nutrition have helped some captive bears live longer, she said. Still, she said it was the right time for Haines to go. Before they decided to euthanize him, Weinhardt said the zoo had been training Haines for cold laser therapy on his joints for his arthritis. She said a necropsy later confirmed severe degeneration in his hip and other joints.
Weinhardt said the zoo got hundreds of comments on a social media post from people who shared photos and memories of seeing Haines over the years.
“I was sobbing just reading these from people that have come to the zoo. Guests knew their names, they knew which one was which,” she said.
With her two lifelong companions gone, Sadie is now the only remaining bear in the exhibit. Zoo staff are watching to see how she adjusts.
The post Orphaned Mud Bay bear cub dies after two decades at the Minnesota Zoo appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Petersburg High School girls basketball team won the opening tip and the opening game of the 2026 Region V Basketball Tournament on Wednesday in the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé George Houston Gymnasium.
The fourth-seed Lady Vikings defeated the fifth-seed Haines Lady Glacier Bears 43-17 behind 15 points from sophomore Lexie Tow who also won the tip.
Senior Natalee Bertagnoli added 10 points for Petersburg, sophomore Zia Hulebak six, senior Aurora Wolf four, senior Rikka Miller three, sophomores Simone Nilsen and Cadence Flint two apiece and Emilia Anderson 1.
The Lady Vikings had one 3-point shot, 15 closer in and were 10-16 from the line.
CC Elliott led Haines with eight points including the Lady Glacier Bears’ first three baskets in the first quarter. Freshman Brylea Swaner added three points, freshmen Sophia Hedden and Emma Lapeyri and junior Ali Lloyd had two apiece. Haines hit six field goals and were 5-6 from the line.
Petersburg led 10-6 after eight minutes and then opened a 23-9 lead at the half that included four straight steals by Tow who converted three for scores in a Lady Vikings press that gave Haines pause. Petersburg led 37-11 after three quarters.
The Lady Vikings advance to play top seed Metlakatla on Thursday at 9 a.m. Haines plays an elimination game at Thursday at noon against Wrangell, who suffered a 62-32 loss to Craig.
“I feel like it was a nice, like, warmup game,” Tow said. “To get us started for the rest of the games. Tomorrow we have Metlakatla, and that is one of the teams we have wanted to play all season and beat. I feel like this game kind of like helped us get motivated for that game.”
CRAIG 62 WRANGELL 32
The second-seed Craig girls jumped on third-seed Wrangell early and didn’t slow down as they posted a 62-32 win.
“It is a pretty big win for us,” Craig junior Ashlynn Smith said. “We are really excited to show everyone what we are made of and get to the region ‘chip. We are really excited to showcase everything we have worked on all season long.”
The showcase started with Smith scoring off the center tip and then the Lady Panthers went on a 16-1 run behind a shot past the arc from senior Chelsea Thompson, a fast break layup by freshman Jayla Edenshaw, another from Thompson, a shot from the arc by junior Sara Steffen and another in the paint, a steal by Smith who fed Thompson for a score, a Smith fast break and a layup by freshman Alli Demmert for an 18-1 lead.
Wrangell senior Christina Johnson stopped the run with a score off a steal by Lady Wolves junior Alexis Easterly to end the first quarter at 18-3.
The Lady Wolves were without the services of junior Alana Harrison. The injured Southeast star was on the bench cheering her teammates into a better second quarter. Lady Wolves junior Hailey Cook hit a shot from the arc in the stanza and senior Shailyn Nelson had three scores in the paint.
Craig’s Smith continued her strong play in the second quarter with two more steals, a shot past the arc and two shots closer in, Edenshaw added a basket and Steffen added two scores inside as the Lady Panthers lead increased to 31-12 at the half.
“We came in at halftime of this game and we just had to be their biggest cheerleaders,” Wrangell coach Christy Brown said of trying to pick up her team. “It is hard when you are down by 10, 15, or 20 points to try and dig deep and get to the next level, but it is what it is and we just need to try and stay positive and do the things we can do to make that happen.”
Wrangell would put together a 10-point third quarter and another 10 points in the final eight minutes, but Craig hit for 15 and 16 in the final two stanzas for the 62-32 win.
“I think it was a team effort,” Craig coach Vanessa James said. “We played together as a team, moved the ball really well and it was everybody looking for each other. And the defensive effort was huge for us, getting deflections, getting steals, looking for the girl filling the lane. A complete team effort and that is what makes me most proud.”
Steffan led Craig with 14 points, Smith and Thompson added 13 points apiece, Nelson and Demmert seven apiece, Edenshaw six and sophomore Alaya Bates two. The Lady Panthers hit five shots past the arc, 22 closer in and were 3-7 at the line.
Johnson led Wrangell with 12 points, Cook and Nelson added six apiece, Easterly five and freshman Kaiya Brevick three. The Lady Wolves hit four shots past the arc, seven closer in and went 6-10 at the line.
Craig advances to play in Friday’s 3 p.m. championship game against the winner of Thursday’s 9 a.m. game between top seed Metlakatla and Petersburg. Wrangell plays a Thursday noon elimination game against Haines.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.
The post Petersburg girls run past Haines, Craig girls topple Wrangell in 2A region openers appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.
Faster Horses Festival will not return in 2026, marking the second straight year the popular country music event has been canceled. The festival, which typically draws thousands of fans for a weekend of country music and camping, was also absent from the calendar in 2025, leaving many wondering about its future.
In a statement shared on the festival’s official social media accounts, organizers announced the festival will take a hiatus in 2026 and did not indicate whether it will return in the future.
“Faster Horses Music Festival will not return in 2026,” the statement reads. “While the festival will not take place this year, we are proud of the memories created and the impact it has had on live music and Michigan. We remain grateful to the fans, artists, partners, and the Michigan International Speedway Community who have supported Faster Horses over the years.”
The reason for the prolonged hiatus is unknown.
Faster Horses has hosted dozens of country superstars over the years, including HARDY, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan, Zac Brown Band, Shania Twain, and many more.
This continued pause also reflects a larger shift happening across the country music festival scene. In recent years, several festivals have either taken breaks, scaled back, or shut down entirely as promoters navigate rising production costs, changing touring schedules, and evolving fan demand. As a result, it’s becoming a growing trend within the country music industry.
It was recently revealed that the long-running Watershed Festival would be taking a hiatus in 2026. The festival, which took place at the picturesque The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, shared the unfortunate news with fans on social media, writing: “After 13 incredible years of country music and community at The Gorge, we wanted to be the first to let you know that Watershed will be taking a hiatus in 2026. Any future plans will be announced accordingly.”
Several country music festivals have faced setbacks in recent years, leaving fans disappointed. The newly launched Iron Hills Country Music Festival, for example, was canceled before it even took place in 2025, citing “rising costs and lower-than-expected ticket sales.” Similarly, the Field & Stream Music Fest, originally scheduled for 2024 and 2025, was ultimately scrapped, with organizers issuing refunds to ticketholders and pointing to “circumstances beyond our control” as the reason for the cancellations.
These events now join Country Jam Colorado, which announced a pause for 2026 in order to “re-evaluate and plan for the future.”
Not all festivals are facing uncertainty, however. Country Thunder recently unveiled plans for its first-ever beachfront festival, while events such as Barefoot Country Music Festival, Stagecoach, and Tortuga Music Festival have already revealed star-studded lineups for 2026.
Whether these pauses reflect an oversaturated festival market or other challenges remains unclear. Either way, the cancellations and delays mark a disappointing loss for country music fans hoping to see their favorite artists live.
The post Faster Horses Festival Scrapped Again: A Sign Of Shifts In Country Music Festivals appeared first on Country Now.
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