On Thursday, Sept. 25, Rolling Stone will team up with Dickel Whisky for another round of the “Rolling Stone Writers’ Room.” Moderated by Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone senior music editor and host of the Nashville Now podcast, this installment will celebrate Dickel’s Class of 25 with performances from the fresh faces that are paving the way for the genre’s future: Kaitlin Butts, Tyler Halverson, and Braxton Keith. Throughout the evening, each artist will share insights into their burgeoning careers in between performances of some of their most prolific songs.
Red Dirt cowgirl Butts recently broke out with her viral hit “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead to Me),” off her acclaimed 2024 album Roadrunner!. With celebrities including reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and country star Lainey Wilson lip-syncing to the song’s lyrics, it instantly became a TikTok trending sound. It was a fitting way to kick off a massive second half of the year for Butts, a former theater kid who is currently opening for Lainey Wilson on her “Whirlwind” world tour. It’s all proof that, as Butts told RS this spring, “hard work pays off.”
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Tyler Halverson is taking his self-proclaimed “Country & Western Amerijuana” sound on the road with his “More Hearts Than Horses Tour.” The South Dakota native admits that he was “the weird kid with his skateboard at the cattle show that still put his boots on to go lead his steer around the ring.” It’s a description that somehow perfectly sums up his musical vibe: Traditional western influences mixed with modern references and nods to other genres. Of his track “Mac Miller,” Halverson told RS, “for anyone who thinks we’re diluting country music [with] hip hop references, I would say it’s cool to do something a little left of center.”
Neotraditionalist Braxton Keith takes inspiration from the legacy acts on whom he was raised. “My music has an Eighties vibe with a new school twist,” he tells RS. “You gotta adapt or die.” It’s working. Keith’s latest ballad “Baby You Do” calls to mind some of country’s greatest love-gone-wrong songs, with Keith’s velvety voice wrapping around smart-yet-smoldering lyrics like “Shouldn’t be killin’ my buzz/ shouldn’t be stuck in my brain makin’ every night hurt like you left yesterday/ I’m startin’ to think there ain’t no gettin’ over you/ Cause you shouldn’t still be breakin’ my heart in two but baby you do.” It’s pure country gold for the modern age that cements Keith’s place in the Class of 25. “There’s never been a better time for country music than right now,” he says. “Country music is country again.”
And as Butts, Halverson, and Keith take the stage, they’ll join the crowd in sipping on inventive cocktails featuring Dickel Whisky. With a distillery outside of Nashville in beautiful Cascade Hollow, and a destination in the Tennessee whiskey trail, the brand is itself a beautiful blend of modern tradition. Most recently, the iconic libation has been revitalized by General Manager and Distiller Nicole Austin, who has introduced new awarding winning products and techniques to the 150-year-old brand, including Dickel Bourbon 8 Year Old, the sought-after Bottled In Bond releases, and a unique Rye Collaboration blend with Leopold Bros.
Each of the Writers’ Room performers’ roots are planted firmly in traditional county, but all of them have an outlaw side that keeps them fresh on the fringe of mainstream Nashville. It’s similar to Dickel Whisky, a brand founded in 1870, but built on the idea of bucking the system. And much like the three singer/songwriters who will grace the Writers’ Room stage, Dickel Whisky is a wry philosopher, blending dry, unshakeable, earned wisdom with ironic insight. It’s a skill utilized by each of these powerful wordsmiths, and one that has made the Dickel Whisky brand not just smooth and drinkable, but fresh and relatable.
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