The stars were out in East Nashville on Thursday, September 25, as Rolling Stone and Dickel Whisky teamed up to host another round of the “Rolling Stone’s Writers’ Room.” Joseph Hudak, RS Senior Music Editor and host of the Nashville Now podcast, took the stage to welcome Dickel’s Class of 25: future country music superstars Kaitlin Butts, Tyler Halverson, and Braxton Keith.
Throughout the night, there were interviews with each singer-songwriter between performances of some of their greatest and newest songs.
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Butts kicked off her performances by sharing the inspiration behind her cheeky song “Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)” and had the crowd in hysterics with a story about asking country music legend Vince Gill to sing backup on the track, an ode to well-endowed ladies. In the second round of the evening, Butts gave a showstopping performance of a new song, “Never Really Mine,” and later brought the house down with her viral hit “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me).” After asking the room, “George Dickel and Rolling Stone, can I spill the tea real quick?” Butts told the audience that the track’s TikTok fame was born out of a moment of female empowerment. “My friend, [country singer] Avery Anna, she loves the song, so she started posting it on her TikTok and the song just sort of took off from there,” she told the crowd. “It felt good to sing that song and have so many girls cheer it on.”
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Halverson opened his first round of music with “Mac Miller,” a song that references the late rapper. When asked how a hip-hop artist could inspire a country song, Halverson recounted: “I was working on a ranch out in Wyoming and we were laying a bunch of salt blocks for these heifers. You look around and [see] the Big Horn Mountains all snowcapped and my buddy’s just bumping Mac Miller. Mac and Drake. Nothing country at all. But we were doing some country shit.” Later in the night, the South Dakota native performed his next single “More Hearts Than Horses” and “Beer Garden Baby,” a fan favorite that Halverson recently rereleased as a duet with charttopper Parker McCollum.
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Neotraditionalist Braxton Keith opened his set with his single “Baby You Do.” When asked how Keith feels about his music being labeled “outlaw country,” the Texas native said, “I’m a big outlaw fan. It’s kind of just staying true to yourself and sometimes that’s making music that is not the norm and people label you a little bit differently.” Later, Keith played “A Little Bit Closer” and “Cozy,” a storyteller’s take on a true story about his years of performing at birthday parties. He shared that he played the same female fan’s party every year and while each time she had a different boyfriend, she always called on Keith to return.
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The evening was a stunning tribute to Dickel’s Class of ’25 with performances from the fresh faces that are paving the way for the genre’s future. The celebration of new artists and time-honored musical traditions blended storytelling and song, much like Dickel Whisky’s beautiful blend of modern tradition. Based just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, in breathtaking Cascade Hollow, the iconic distillery has been revitalized by General Manager and Distiller Nicole Austin, who has introduced new products and techniques to the 150-year-old brand.
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And to underscore the blending of classic flavors and innovative techniques, bartenders were mixing up three specialty Dickel Whisky cocktails. The Dickel Old Fashioned (Dickel Bourbon, simple syrup and dashes of aromatic bitters); the Dickel Rye Highball (Dickel Rye and soda water); and the Dickel Bourbon Gold Rush (Dickel Bourbon, fresh lemon juice and honey syrup).
As the night closed out, Hudak led the three troubadours and the entire crowd in a toast, raising a glass to Dickel Whisky and the genre’s future. “We have had such a great night with these three artists,” he said. “Country music is in good freaking hands.”
