The show never quite recovered. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Month: June 2026
Culver’s Buttterburgers are already a popular and delicious choice, but you can take them up a notch (or five) by using this two-word request.
Food Republic – Restaurants, Reviews, Recipes, Cooking Tips
In just a few short years, Megan Moroney has established herself as one of country music’s sharpest lyricists. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
In just a few short years, Megan Moroney has established herself as one of country music’s sharpest lyricists. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Adding this unusual ingredient to water is just one way the actress takes her health and fitness seriously, especially after hot yoga or any grueling workout.
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
From Lionel Messi’s and Kylian Mbappé’s stunners to Harry Kane’s take-two penalty shot, the 2026 World Cup has already seen more than 100 goals, and there’s so much more to come. But thanks to two Egypt goals Sunday against New Zealand in the group stage, World Cup goals have reached an impressive milestone: a goalscorer for every letter in the alphabet. Organized by surname, no World Cup has ever accomplished this feat. The closest was the 2018 World Cup, which had a goalscorer for every letter except Y. Well, thanks to goals scored by Egypt’s Trezeguet and Mostafa Zico, the 26-letter list is now complete. Here’s a look at the first 2026 World Cup goalscorer alphabet.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
The USA faces an interesting situation on Thursday. The Americans have already won their group, and Türkiye has already been eliminated from the 2026 World Cup. So, does U.S. men’s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino try to continue building off the USA’s good start, or does he put the focus on the round of 32? Let’s answer your questions. If you were Poch, how would you handle this game vs. Türkiye? — Blake Newton (@blake_newton48) There’s a good thing that’s brewing with this squad right now, and I don’t want to see much of that get disrupted by just making complete wholesale changes. That’s not to say I don’t trust the depth of this group. I just want to keep building the momentum within this team as much as possible. The key players who will not play, though: anyone who is one yellow card away from suspension. Tyler Adams, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun are one yellow card away from missing the round of 32 game. Nobody wants that to happen. This also gives Poch a chance to get minutes for some more guys who could be important down the stretch in later rounds. The key storyline: Christian Pulisic. I am only playing him from the start if he is 100 percent fit. If he’s 85 or 90 percent, I’m not starting him. If that’s the case, maybe he gets 10 or 15 minutes of run, maybe as much as a half hour, toward the end, but I’m not pushing him or putting him in any jeopardy. The goal is to have a fully healthy Christian who is capable of firing on all cylinders for the round of 32. Who’s the player you’re most excited to see who we haven’t seen much of yet? — Jacobi Moore (@jacobimoore.92) The first name that comes to mind is Gio Reyna. I’d love to see more of him on the field since he could potentially make an impact later in the tournament. I’d also like to see guys who can make their World Cup debuts with an appearance. Specifically, it would also be nice to see midfielder Christian Roldan and striker Haji Wright get to play in this game because they’re from the Los Angeles area. What has been your favorite match so far at the tournament? — Christopher Castro (@christopheracastro_23) I’m very partial to the first USA game in Los Angeles. We had been waiting so long for that game and it had so many expectations. It was such an inspiring 90 minutes that filled the confidence that this fan base needed at that moment. Watching Lionel Messi at this tournament has been great, too. First, it was the hat trick against Algeria, and then he made history against Austria with his brace. Finally, Cape Verde’s match against Uruguay on Sunday night was great. That team’s existence in this tournament has been so fun to watch so far. Cape Verde nearly won that game and probably should have had a penalty late. Overall, I’m really happy with how that team has conducted itself so far. Cape Verde is making its country proud going into its final match against Saudi Arabia, having taken two points from matches against Spain and Uruguay. Now, it can guarantee qualification for the round of 32 with a win. What was your preferred formation lineup to play in? — Kaden Holmes (@kadenholmes68) Either a 4-2-3-1 as one of the two midfielders or a 4-3-3 where I was an “8” and could play from box to box. How old were you when you fell in love with football? — Fatimah (@fatttyy_toofineee) My first memories of kicking a ball are from when I was 3 or 4 years old. I’m sure my parents had me kicking a ball around before then because my dad loved the game, as did my mom. It was love at first sight with that first kick. I wasn’t thinking about playing professionally at that age. Instead, I just enjoyed playing. I had three older siblings that I was always trying to compete with. I enjoyed competing and the fun I had with my family before I started watching on TV and became a fan.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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Country Next: Blake Proehl
Just a few years ago, Blake Proehl was chasing his lifelong dream of playing in the NFL. Today, he’s building a fast-rising career in country music, proving that sometimes the hardest setbacks can lead to some of the best and most unexpected opportunities.
The North Carolina native never planned on becoming a singer-songwriter. He spent most of his childhood consumed by sports, dedicating himself mostly to football with the goal of one day reaching the professional level. That dream became a reality when he signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021, but his future took an unexpected turn after a devastating knee injury during his rookie season that left him unable to play for more than a year.
As a way to pass the time during a lengthy recovery season, Proehl picked up a guitar that was gifted to him and found that music could be used as an outlet to process the disappointment and uncertainty surrounding his football career. He ended up discovering a passion for songwriting that ultimately changed the course of his life.
The songs that the “She Got It” singer began writing amid that chapter eventually led him to find success on social media, a memorable run on American Idol, a move to Nashville, and now a recording contract with MCA/UMG.
Keep learning more about Blake Proehl below as he discusses finding his way into music, learning the ropes of the music business, his latest release, and which goals he hopes to cross off next.
Was music always something that was very present in your life growing up?
Music was not present at all during that time of my life, to be honest with you. Music didn’t really make a real entrance into my life until about 2022 when I was with the Vikings. So when I was a kid, it really was just all sports, classic jock, get the energy out of me for sure. Most people like music in general, but I didn’t really care about it honestly to pursue it at all. It was just like, oh, I love music. Yeah, sure. It was that type of thing.
You found your way into music during a difficult transition period. Talk about that time and how music helped you through that mentally.
Basically what happened was I was with the Vikings and that’s when I got hurt. I injured my knee really, really badly and I was playing really well. Honestly, my best football I had ever played. And so I was on track to make the 53-man active roster as a rookie. And when I got injured, it kind of turned my whole world upside down. I just remember being extremely just heartbroken and also confused on how this could happen to me. And somebody had got me a guitar and I had always wanted to learn how to play guitar as a hobby for fun. It was almost a bucket list thing to check off. And so I kind of used that time period of about 16 months of downtime because it took multiple surgeries to fix. They kept me in Minnesota to be around the team. And I used music as a healing journey for me and writing. And that was the first time I started writing music just to help, like you said, heal what I was going through at the time. And then next thing you know, it kind of blossomed into what it is today.
Suddenly you had a whole new fanbase learning about your talent for music through your American Idol audition. What made you take that leap?
Well, what happened was I had a couple videos go viral on TikTok, as one does these days. And that kind of pulled me into the industry a little bit with just hitting the algorithm of other musicians and artists and American Idol, The Voice and all those shows. I think I was an A+ candidate for those type of shows. And so they reached out. A bunch of people, all those shows had DM’d me at one point and was like, “You should audition.” And so basically fast forward to 2023 and I had been singing a little bit, had dropped one song or something, still a baby, didn’t know what I was doing. And I went to go audition in Nashville. It was the last day of auditions. They had already done their whole tour of America and all that stuff. And yeah, I auditioned and it was a great experience. I mean, I made it to the live shows, the finals and all that stuff, which was kind of crazy. I really shocked myself in that sense. I don’t really go and watch those videos anymore, I guess you could say, because I feel like I’ve come a long way since that, but that’s part of the story. Yeah, definitely I’m proud of that experience for sure.
What was it like navigating your move to Nashville to pursue music more seriously after that experience and having to learn the ins and outs of the music business?
Oh man, it’s been crazy. It has some similarities to football, but it also is very different. In football, especially in the NFL, you have a salary, which is really nice. In music, it’s kind of everyone for themselves. And what’s been really cool, especially signing with MCA and having a team at Range and just building a team has been really nice for me because that’s what I’m used to in the football world. And that’s where what I miss about leaving football was the camaraderie of the locker room and having a team and creating those relationships and bonds and leaning on each other. And that’s what’s been really fun about finally growing a team here in Nashville and a community, which has been really, really, really great to hold each other accountable and also move forward in a creative way and have ideas, bounce ideas off of each other. That’s probably been my favorite part of moving here and really getting into the weeds of Nashville.
Are there any lessons that you learned in your football days that have now translated you’re your music career?
Honestly, I think my natural work ethic. When you play college football, for example, that’s a bootcamp. Honestly, I truly believe college football, D1 college football, is harder than the NFL just because of how much is demanded on your body and also mentally classes, bouncing classes, study halls, practices, workouts, all that stuff. And I think that carries over into music because in music, especially when you first get started, you don’t have a bunch of people telling you, “You got to do this, you need to do that. ” So naturally, I think that’s how I was able to find a team fairly quickly into getting into music because I was so used to being from the football world, having to do this at 6:00 AM, and then right after make breakfast and then go here and do this, I kind of carried that over into music and just holding myself accountable and having a lot of discipline and feeling like I’m never doing enough, which makes me do a lot. I think that carries now more than ever now that I have a team. I would say the discipline part of it for sure.
During your recent CMA Fest debut, you had a moment where you realized that even though you just put out your song “She Got It,” fans were already singing every word back to you. How did that feel?
Yes, that was pretty awesome. We had some, we called them “Blake’s Baddies,” some certified Baddies on the front row. They were singing every word and it came out the night before, whatever. So that was really cool to see. And live performing is my favorite thing ever. That’s my favorite part of being an artist and having fans show up and sing that new song the next day was really, really special, especially in my first CMA Fest. It was a great day.
Talk a bit more about how “She Got It” came together.
I wrote it actually back at my first ever writing camp in February with some of my favorite writers. We went out to Nowhere Tennessee about an hour and a half south of Nashville. And the music I wrote when I first started was very heartfelt and slower, emotional, but I’m a very ADHD, high energy human being. So I was like, guys, we need to start this thing off with some high energy. Let’s get something I can dance to. I love to dance on stage. And yeah, I think what happened was that’s basically all I said. And the next thing we got a guitar going and some fun melodies and wrote it about seeing a girl who you’re kind of seeing across the bar and you’re like, ‘oh man, I don’t know what it is, but she got it.’ And that really was all the concept was and that’s all we needed. We realized a lot of big songs, fun songs aren’t that deep of concepts and those are some of our favorite songs. So we ran with just having a good time and we had a really fun time writing. I think we wrote it in an hour, which was really awesome.
What can you share about any new music you have on the way?
It’s definitely in a similar lane. There’s a few really, really fun ones and then there’s one that’s more mid-tempo, which I’m excited about, but they all have a youthful, southeast coastal feel to them. We’re going to be shooting a lot of visuals and stuff down in Charleston, South Carolina where I grew up going, me and my family, so we’re going back to my roots and we’re going to capture visually who Blake Proehl is and those songs feel that way, which is really exciting. So I would say all of them have a similar feel. “She Got It” was a perfect first single, but the next ones have a feel to that. It’s really just going back to my roots and the type of music that I grew up on. And I want to bring more of the pop country back into country, like Florida Georgia Line and the Dan & Shay’s and all of those type of people. I like to call it Bieber country, but it’s Blake country.
What are some of the goals that you hope to cross off next?
I think my biggest goal is I want to sell out arenas. I think I’m a very main character, so I love being on stage. I love dancing, making people laugh, entertaining. And I think my next goal is to just get on the road and get in front of people and sing these songs and share my story, but also inspire people to dream again and try get up and try again however many times it takes to find whatever your purpose is. And I think that’s what life’s all about. So that’s what my artist project kind of reflects. And I think the best way to do that is getting out in front of people and we’re excited. We got some fun live stuff coming up in festivals this summer and tours this fall and I think that’s something that I’m looking forward to. And just getting this new music out and just getting going is really all it is.
Fans can keep up with Blake Proehl on Instagram.
The post Country Next: Blake Proehl appeared first on Country Now.
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More than 10,000 lawyers, many of them from the U.S. Department of Justice, have left the federal government during the second Trump administration. “Their departures show how rapidly the president has eroded the image of the federal government as the gold standard for lawyers seeking public service roles,” writes The New York Times.
Politics and legal affairs editor Naomi Schalit spoke with John E. Jones III about the mass departure of federal government lawyers, as well as other recent issues related to the Department of Justice. Jones, now the president of Dickinson College, is a retired federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 2002.
Schalit: What are the repercussions of this exodus of lawyers?
Jones: One thing that I could rely on as a federal judge was the professionalism of the Department of Justice, and hand in hand with that was its collective credibility.
When you have an exodus of those professionals, and when you have, unfortunately, Department of Justice attorneys going into federal courts across the country and outright misrepresenting – the stronger word is lying – to federal judges, it really creates a massive reputational problem for the department.
So “massive reputational problem for the department” means what happens between lawyers and judges. What are the on-the-ground implications of that for people who are caught up in the justice system?
It’s well to remember that the attorney general’s client – the Department of Justice’s client – is the United States of America. It is not the president of the United States, even though one would think that based on the way this president operates his administration. The mission of the Department of Justice is within its name: It’s to do justice, to uphold the rule of law, to operate without fear or favor, and to make sure its prosecutions are righteous and well founded.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
There’s no question that through history we’ve had attorneys general who’ve gone off the grid, so to speak. But I don’t think there’s ever been historically as seamless an interface – in a bad way – between the president and the Department of Justice as what we see today. The president in his second term has had the attorneys general essentially do his bidding and prosecute his enemies.
Even going back to the Nixon years, Attorney General John Mitchell committed a number of acts that ended up with him spending almost 20 months in prison. But it didn’t involve selective prosecutions – it involved crimes that were largely outside his role as attorney general.
When Robert F. Kennedy was his brother John F. Kennedy’s attorney general, despite their brotherly attachment you didn’t see anything like this. In fact, history informs us that they were always concerned about conflicts and promoted the independent operation of their U.S. attorneys.
There have also been grand juries rejecting attempts by the Justice Department’s attorneys to get indictments.
That proves a couple things: that grand jurors are doing their job and being very, very clinical about issuing true bills of indictment. And also that the pervasive activities of the administration are becoming known to average citizens, and they are looking with a jaded eye toward the prosecutions that are being put in front of them. That’s happened not just in Washington, D.C., but in Chicago and other places across the country, and I would expect that to continue.
President Donald Trump has announced the nomination of Todd Blanche to be the U.S. attorney general. Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, had served as acting attorney general since Trump forced out Pam Bondi. If you were advising senators in confirmation hearings for Todd Blanche, what questions would you recommend they ask?
In terms of the prosecutions of the perceived enemies of President Trump, I would want to know just how much interface and discussions there have been between the White House and the Department of Justice, including obviously the president and Mr. Blanche. I’m not sure that you would get a straight answer, but I think it’s worth asking the question. I might want to know whether he has ever refused to investigate or prosecute someone the president ordered him to target.
I’m not put off by the fact that Todd Blanche was the president’s personal lawyer. That’s fine, he has a history as a prosecutor before that, and the personal relationship doesn’t disqualify him.
Al Drago/Getty Images
I might also ask him hypotheticals where you test whether or not he could speak truth to power – specific hypotheticals about fairly evaluating a White House mandate ordering him to prosecute the president’s enemies. But if he can’t – as even attorneys general in the first administration Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions did – speak truth to power and stand up to the president and instead becomes a rubber stamp to exact revenge on behalf of the president, I think he’s fundamentally unfit for this really powerful, critical Cabinet post.
Let’s turn to another constitutional question. In reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s new book, they detail that there was a move to suspend habeas rights, – which allow a person detained by the government to challenge that detention – for unauthorized immigrants, although one high-level administration lawyer advised strongly against it. As a former judge, what’s your reaction to any attempt to do that?
You know that the Great Writ, as it’s called, has only been suspended about four times in the history of the country. First by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and it was found to be an unconstitutional action, although the Congress in 1863 stepped up to provide the president the power to suspend the writ during the war when “the public safety may require it.”
On the one hand, it proves that there is at least one attorney in the White House who is willing to speak truth to power. There’s simply no current basis in law or fact to suspend the writ – look at the Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, which says, “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
I think the courts would stop the president if he tried to do it. The opinion that the president received from counsel was a mixture of both “You’re going to get stopped by the courts, you’re going to get engaged in litigation right away” and “This is going to look terrible if you do it.”
This would have been a quantum leap in the wrong direction had they actually endeavored to do it. Sadly, expediency regularly triumphs over the rule of law far too often in this presidency, and that puts the rights of all citizens at risk.
John E. Jones III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Politics + Society – The Conversation
![<a href="https://countrynow.com/cody-johnson-reveals-his-workout-routine-while-talking-life-on-the-road-exclusive/" target="_blank">Cody Johnson Reveals His Workout Routine While Talking Life On The Road [Exclusive]</a>](https://countrynow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Untitled-1200-x-633-px-1200-x-800-px-12-2-1024x683.jpg)
Cody Johnson is sharing a look at what life on the road looks like right now, and how he’s balancing a demanding touring schedule with health, recovery, and family life.
With each show, fans have come to expect the country hitmaker to deliver a high-energy performance packed with nonstop movement across the stage. Johnson tells Country Now that staying in shape is essential to keeping up that pace night after night.
When it comes to his current workout routine, Johnson says that the key is keeping things simple and consistent with both his diet and exercise while he’s on the road.
“It varies. It’s really more diet: Meat, fruit, cheese, eggs only,” he shared. “We’re doing a little yoga. I do a lot of peptides and things like that, but my gym at home is where I really do my hard workouts.”
The Texas native explains that when he has rare downtime at home, he will spend two to three hours in his own personal gym, but on the road he’s happy to be able to squeeze in a short stint of cardio.
“Me and my security guard, Jason, will get out there and as long as we get 30 minutes of good cardio or good yoga stretch or just loosening up, it really helps me on stage because…I mean, you know I don’t stand still on stage, so I really need to kind of be loosened up,” he added.
Speaking of life on tour, Cody Johnson admits it has felt “really great” to get back to his regular routine on the road, especially after having to unexpectedly take three months off in 2025 to recover from a burst eardrum.
However, there were some positives to getting that break, like getting to spend more quality time with his wife, Brandi, their two daughters Clara Mae and Cori and their baby boy, Jaycee Daniel. Then Johnson was fired up to return full steam ahead at the top of 2026.
“We had our baby boy, spent a lot of time at home, recharged my body, recharged my mind. And so we knew in January coming in, we’re going to hit the ground running. I mean, set the record at NRG Stadium this year, headlined Stagecoach for the first time, got to open for George Strait. And then also, the success at the ACMs and things like that, it’s just been a whirlwind,” he shared.
Cody Johnson is keeping the momentum going with his 2026 Live headline tour, taking him to arenas across the country. Since stepping into the larger venues, he felt a “different level of intensity” each night in the crowd
“You can see the difference with the fans,” he admitted.
After the show, Johnson takes about an hour to come down from the adrenaline rush. In this time he typically Facetimes his family, has a drink, and simply tries to decompress before doing it all again the next night.
Still, he’s not slowing down anytime soon because Johnson’s new album Banks of the Trinity is dropping Friday, June 26. Plus, his packed tour schedule is set to continue through November.
One of the standout stops on his 2026 run was Nashville’s CMA Fest, where he took the stage at Nissan Stadium on Friday, June 5. Johnson is among the star-studded lineup whose festival performances will be featured in a special three-hour broadcast airing later this week on ABC, giving fans another chance to experience the epic on-stage moments.
Co-hosted by Riley Green and Good Morning America’s Lara Spencer, CMA Fest presented by SoFi is set to broadcast Thursday, June 25 at 8/7c on ABC and will be available for streaming the next day on Hulu.
The special will feature performances from Bailey Zimmerman, Blake Shelton, The Band Perry, Brothers Osborne, Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson, Deana Carter, Ella Langley, Fetty Wap, Florida Georgia Line, Gretchen Wilson, HARDY, Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Jordan Davis, Keith Urban, Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan, Michael McDonald, Molly Tuttle, The Red Clay Strays, Ricky Skaggs, Riley Green, Russell Dickerson, Shaboozey, Shay Morgan, Stephen Wilson Jr., Tim McGraw, Tucker Wetmore, and Zach Top.
SoFi has been named the first-ever broadcast presenting sponsor and Official Bank of CMA Fest, joining the festival in a partnership centered on helping people pursue financial independence through music. As part of the collaboration, SoFi will highlight standout performances, including country icon Deana Carter and the live debut of Shaboozey’s new single, “Cowgirl.”
Nashville will once again welcome CMA Fest to the heart of the city next year. It’s set to take over June 10–13, 2027.
The post Cody Johnson Reveals His Workout Routine While Talking Life On The Road [Exclusive] appeared first on Country Now.
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