2026 Texas Country Music Industry Awards VOTING Open Through April 30
The nominations phase is now completed, and the top 5 finalists have been determined for the 2026 Texas Country Music Industry Awards. Voting is now open through April 30! The Industry Awards are to honor and recognize those who work so hard alongside the artists to create, manage, and promote their music.
TCMA Members and other verifiable Texas Country Music Industry Stakeholders may vote.
The 2026 Texas Country Music Industry Awards is set to take place on Thursday, July 23, 2026, at Rhinestone Saloon in the Fort Worth Stockyards, followed by a concert by TCMA Member Clay Hollis.
2026 TCMA Songwriter Contest Open For Entries!
The 2026 TCMA Songwriter Contest is now OPEN FOR ENTRIES in Country and Christian Country music categories! Winners in each category are invited to perform on the main stage at the 2026 Texas Country Music Awards on November 8, 2026, at Billy Bob's Texas in the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards and all top 10 finalists will be recognized. Enter Early!
Songs are reviewed on an as-received basis. All entries submitted must be the contestant's original works. Songs are judged on creativity, lyrics, melody, arrangement, originality, and overall technique. Visit www.texascountrymusicassociation.org/2026songwriter
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Payton Riley Is Finding Her Voice—Loud, Honest, and Unapologetically Her Own
​At just 17 years old, Payton Riley, a Montgomery, Texas native, is already carving out her own lane. Blending vivid, story-driven songwriting with a clear drive to keep pushing her sound forward.
Released April 10, “Rainmaker” leans more into rock while still holding onto the honesty and grit that define Texas country. It’s a sound that feels bigger, more intense—and more like Payton.
“‘Rainmaker’ really came from me leaning into the kind of music I have always loved but maybe had not fully stepped into yet,” Payton says. “For a long time, I felt like I had to keep myself in a box… but recently I have let go of that and started writing and singing what I love, and it has changed everything for me.”
The song itself centers on a relationship that brings more chaos than comfort. It captures that realization that sometimes love isn’t enough when all someone brings into your life is negativity.
“It is that feeling of loving someone who keeps making your world stormy,” she explains. “You start to realize your worth and understand that you deserve more than that… choosing to walk away and protect your peace even when it is hard.”
That kind of honesty has always been part of Payton’s music, but it hits differently now, especially considering how much she’s already experienced at such a young age.
Touring consistently at 17 isn’t easy, but for Payton, it’s exactly where she wants to be. After her freshman year, she made the decision to switch to online school so she could fully focus on music and life on the road.
“Touring at 17 has honestly been one of the most exciting and eye opening experiences of my life,” Payton says. “There is something really special about being in a van with my band… just living life together and chasing the same dream.”
She’s quick to point out that it’s not just the shows that matter it’s everything in between.
“Some of my favorite memories are the long drives, late night talks, and laughing way too hard over nothing,” she adds. “It is not always glamorous, but it is real, and it is so much fun.”
When she’s home, things slow down but not completely.
“I am usually catching up on school, practicing new music, and I am constantly writing,” she says. “I am a homebody at heart, so I love being able to recharge, but I also get that itch to get back out on the road pretty quickly.”
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Katie Beth Mihms
"Dancehall Dreams"
Katie Beth is coming off her most successful release to radio with “Where The Neon Lives”, breaking all her previous chart records. Now, she’s following that up and looking to keep the momentum going with what sounds like a timeless work in “Dancehall Dreams”. This tune is an ode to Texas dancehalls, a fancy western cut with Texas swing vibes. The fiddle and steel drive the dance floor with old school country western sound that mix with Katie Beth’s unique voice. “Dancehall Dreams” pays homage to western singer and songwriter forefathers such as Bob Wills and Hank Williams. Built like a classic with today’s recording tools to honor the classics, “Dancehall Dream” is Katie Beth’s next step up the radio charts.
Amber Westerman
”Feel It All”
Texas native Amber Westerman, the “Americana Sunflower” returns with her deeply personal new single, “Feel It All,” (may 15, 2026) a moving anthem about healing, surrender, and finding beauty on the other side of pain.
Blending modern Americana with warmth, soul, and timeless storytelling, Westerman creates music that feels both intimate and uplifting. Inspired by artists like Kacey Musgraves, Jason Mraz, Sarah Jarosz, and Brandi Carlile, she delivers songs that invite listeners to come home to their hearts.
“Feel It All” was born from Westerman’s own journey through trauma, bullying, and years of suppressing physical and emotional pain. After a decade-long healing journey, she wrote the song as a reminder that true healing does not come from pushing pain away, but from allowing yourself to fully experience it.
“This song feels like medicine to me,” says Westerman. “It was born from years of learning that real healing does not happen by pushing pain away, but by allowing yourself to feel it fully. It is a reminder that even in the hardest seasons, there is beauty waiting on the other side of surrender.”
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Wynn Williams
”Tornado”
“Tornado” was born from Williams’ rodeo roots. The story of a bucking horse frames its narrator as a once-unstoppable force looking back on an award-winning career defined by sheer strength, endurance and glory as a gladiator of the arena. Tornado's fame mirrors that of rodeo athletes who pursue glorious victory fueled by adrenaline, and the touring musicians who spend years on the road at the center of attention building a name that eventually weighs as much as it carries. Just as the names George Jones, George Strait, Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn have become "legendary," the names of bulls Bodacious, Bushwacker and broncs Virgil and Smith & Velvet have also become world renowned stars of the show.
The track opens with driving guitar and pedal steel textures that pull from classic country tradition, while simultaneously leaning into the urgency of contemporary western instrumentation. Williams’ relaxed vocal delivery grounds the song in reflection. What begins as a celebration of dominance slowly turns inward, tracing the cost of fame, the erosion of time and the uneasy awareness that even legends are not immortal.
“Cowboys and cowgirls around the world have the utmost respect for the animal athletes that go up and down the road just like they do," Williams said. "The stock is bred to buck. It’s in their blood, it’s in their bones. If you’re riding, you want the big one. That’s where the glory is. The song is symbolic of the cowboy and the country music artists that do what they love and live or die by it... what it means to become known for strength and talents in a career of a lifetime, and what happens when the crowd's departed and the lights fade."
The Tabasco Birds Are Cooking Up Something Big with Cosmic American Music
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Out of Denton, Texas, an eight-piece collective is redefining what it means to blend tradition with experimentation. The Tabasco Birds, a genre-fluid band rooted in alt-country, are quickly building a reputation for their expansive sound, offbeat charm, and deep musical curiosity. Their debut album, Cosmic American Music, is both a statement of intent and a celebration of the many influences that brought them together.
The band’s origin story feels almost mythic—two high school groups from Booker T. Washington, The Paper Bears and Flamingo Tree, gradually orbiting one another before merging into something entirely new. The Paper Bears, led by Eoin Swift and Cathal Mayfield, and Flamingo Tree, formed by Jake Bullman and Logan Bolen, each began exploring country music independently after starting in different genres. As their musical paths converged, so did their lineups.
By the summer of 2024, the fusion was complete. Joined by vocalist Chris Smith, pianist Cole Chaney, saxophonist Joel Mena, and bassist Manse Jones—whose introduction came via a memorable mosh pit encounter—the Tabasco Birds became the eight-member ensemble they are today. Their name, originally intended for a baseball team, stuck for the band instead (athletic ambitions, they admit, didn’t quite pan out).
Musically, the group draws from a deep and diverse well. The influence of artists like Gram Parsons is immediately apparent, especially in their embrace of “Cosmic American Music”—a term Parsons coined to describe a fusion of American roots genres. But the band doesn’t stop there. Echoes of Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and The Band blend seamlessly with the introspective songwriting of David Berman and Adrianne Lenker. Add in touches of Erykah Badu, Talking Heads, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and you begin to understand the band’s sonic range.
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This Week's Texas Country Music Chart
The Texas Country Music Chart is the only Texas-based, digitally-monitored airplay chart for Texas Country Music and is a service of the Texas Country Music Association.
