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Whiskey Myers talk about their favorite things about Stagecoach, their new album, being on ‘Yellowstone’ and more at Stagecoach 2025.
Tetris KellyWell Whiskey Myers has decided to come kick it with Billboard before they’re set at stagecoach. How’s it going? Fellas?
Whiskey MyersYes, it’s going good man. How are you I’m good man. But like, you guys are pros at this. You’ve had your own festival for seven years, which is crazy. So how do you bring in that energy to stagecoach for the second time?
Whiskey MyersOh, man, it’s just, we’re just happy to be here, man, and to win the weather. You know, it’s always great to get out here, so we’ll just bring whatever we usually just try to bring to it. And
Tetris KellyI mean, you guys clearly love festivals, because you’re bringing a new one, even to Florida. So why Florida? And what’s that festival gonna be all about?
Whiskey MyersYou know, the weather we’ve done, you know, we’ve done festivals around our home. We’ve done festivals around, I guess, Kansas, and some other stuff. So, I mean, we’d never done went to beach, so it seemed like a pretty good idea.
Tetris KellyWhat do you enjoy about stagecoach specifically?
Whiskey MyersI mean, it’s cool. It’s good setup. You know, they ain’t messing around. I mean, we’ll play music wherever. You know, that’s always been our MO we always been a touring band. So we’re just happy to be here and play music for the people.
Tetris KellyAnd I mean, you guys are fresh off an announcement new album coming out in September. So tell me about the album. First of all, you got to explain the name of the album to me. And what does it mean?
Whiskey Myers‘Whomp Whack Thunder.’ Yeah, we went on there. We went in there and whomped on things, whacked on things, and made some thunder, I guess. But it just kind of came out like that. It’s a cool record. Man, it’s a real rocking, kind of high energy record. We did it in Nashville with Jay Joyce and proud of it comes out this fall.
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Between headlining performances and debuting her upcoming album Dreamsicle, Maren Morris is booked and busy. From setting her pre-show vibe to connecting with her fans, see what Maren shares on her journey to ‘Get It Together’ ahead of her White Claw Sessions performance in Palm Springs.
Tetris KellyMaren, what are you doing? You’re gonna be late to White Claw Sessions.
Maren MorrisWhat do you mean? I’m never late.
Tetris KellyAll right, we gotta get to this show.
Maren MorrisLet’s go.
Tetris KellyCheers. So tell me what’s something that has happened in your year that you’re really proud of?
Maren MorrisI’m putting my album Dreamsicle out in May. So this all just feels like one giant pre-party for my fourth album to be out.
Tetris KellyWe’re on the move to the show right now. What’s your vibe like on the way to a show?
Maren MorrisI mean, I certainly love to blast music before the show with my band, because it kind of works as a warmup for our vocals. My band certainly helps me relax, because they’re all just goofballs, and they make me laugh so hard. And then shows like this is like a party for them, because they get to drink White Claw and then go, hopefully sound good tonight.
Tetris KellyAnd I mean, White Claw Sessions are normally really intimate events. So what’s the difference between performing in something like this and like arenas?
Maren MorrisI feel like you get to see people and their reactions. You can see them singing along with you. It just feels more human. And I think over the years, with each album, I’ve been able to just really home in on a fanbase that is so supportive and loving, and it feels like a safe crowd when you’re at that show and just connecting with people through singing.
Tetris KellyYou’re not gonna be late because of me.
Maren MorrisI know. Let’s get pumped up.
Doechii hits a new peak in the top 10 with “Anxiety,” Alex Warren continues his rise on the Hot 100 with “Ordinary” and Kendrick and SZA continue their run on the Hot 100 with “Luther.” Tetris Kelly:This is the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for the week dated May 10. Doechii’s “Anxiety” returns to the […]

FIFTY FIFTY released their newest EP, ‘Day & Night,’ and the group shares the inspiration behind the concept album, how they created the music video for “POOKIE” and more! What do you think of FIFTY FIFTY’s ‘Day & Night?’ Let us know in the comments! FIFTY FIFTY: For ‘Day & Night,’ our album ‘Day & […]
One of the most acclaimed new musicals on Broadway right now has all the charm of a corpse — literally.
The unlikely subject of Dead Outlaw is the life — and death — of Elmer McCurdy, a late 19th-century ne’er-do-well who came to an early end but whose corporeal form enjoyed a bizarrely long afterlife as a well-preserved (well, for a time) traveling oddity. On paper, it might not sound like typical musical fare, but thanks to an expert creative team — led by co-composers David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, director David Cromer and writer Itamar Moses — Elmer’s tale becomes not just strangely humorous and poignant but deeply thought-provoking.
Yazbek has a résumé stacked with great musical adaptations of films — including The Full Monty, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tootsie and The Band’s Visit, the latter of which won him the Tony for best original score. But Dead Outlaw is an increasingly rare breed of show on Broadway these days, based on no pre-existing intellectual property and not driven at the box office by celebrity names above its marquee.
So far, that’s working out well: Dead Outlaw just received a best musical nomination for the 2025 Tony Awards, one of seven nods for the show also including best score for Yazbek and Della Penna’s music, which is performed by a crackerjack band onstage. Yazbek is rarely working on one show at a time — among many overlapping projects, he’s also creative consultant on the Tony-nominated Buena Vista Social Club — but he and Della Penna took the time post-opening to talk to Billboard about Dead Outlaw and why often, on Broadway, smaller is better.
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How did you become aware of McCurdy’s crazy story in the first place, and how did you know it would lend itself well to musical form?
David Yazbek: The answer to the second part of that question is not until basicallyopening night (laughs). I heard the Elmer McCurdy story like 30-something years ago; when his body was discovered in 1976 by The Six Million Dollar Man TV crew it was a national story briefly, and I think a college friend’s mother sent him clippings about it. He told me the story and it really stuck, especially the themes of identity and death and mortality and greed and fame. For years and years, anyone who heard the actual true story was just amazed that it actually happened. And one of the people I told it to eventually was Erik, who I was in a band with and had written some songs with, and he got hooked.
Erik Della Penna: It was just such an odd story that it’s immediately compelling — anybody I tell this story to is immediately interested. I consider myself a student of American music and of history in general, so this kind of hit all my buttons for those interests
Yazbek: And those factors don’t make it an obvious thing for a musical or a play or whatever, but…
Della Penna: I feel like a musical is sort of the best way to tell the story. Theater really succeeds when it in some way represents an otherworldly environment, and there’s only scant facts in the Elmer McCurdy story. So it’s the perfect way to present them and to really show the depth of it, and not just the cold facts — to bring some humanity to it and relatability.
Yazbek: We both had the instinct that that would be the way to tell the story, and that we could write the songs to tell the story. And, you know, I guess we’re right. So far.
Erik Della Penna (left) and David Yazbek
Jennifer Small
The ideas it brings up about achieving fame and notoriety at any cost — about this very American obsession with being remembered for something, anything — feels especially timely…
Yazbek: I have his memory of when I was maybe 15, I wrote a short story for a class, and it was kind of about that ephemeral idea that for some reason being remembered will afford you some degree of immortality. It’s just another f–king illusory comfort, but it really does drive people, sometimes for their entire lives — this idea of, “Oh sh-t, I’m gonna die. But wait a minute, I’ll be remembered! I’ll have a legacy!” Even the word legacy is dangerous. It’s why some people amass much more wealth than they should and put their name on buildings.
Della Penna: It doesn’t even work with buildings. Like, [New York’s] Alice Tully Hall is now David Geffen Hall, so what happened to Alice Tully? Now we all forget about her?
The onstage band is central to the show. Did you have a particular sonic palette or influences you were drawing upon in writing the music?
Della Penna: I think Yazbek asked me because my musical interests were in early 20th century American music…
Yazbek: That’s pretty accurate. I don’t read reviews, but people keep throwing little bits at me, and [the New York Times review] was referencing an album of mine called Evil Monkey Man, and Erik is all over that album, and just like in this show, he’s playing lap steel, different electric and acoustics, and there’s some banjo. That’s sort of at the root of all of this: Erik and I are both capable of being very eclectic in our songwriting. We both love this genre — I don’t want to call it Americana, but like you just said, that early 20th century American music…
Della Penna: And that includes Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jimmy Rogers…
Yazbek: And all of that stuff is very apropos for this show. The show is 100 years of American history. And from the very beginning, we sort of said, “Let’s Lennon and McCartney this” — in other words, let’s not be counting bars and who wrote what, let’s go all in, and that was part of the fun of it.
Though you do have two standout performances in central roles — Tony nominees Andrew Durand as Elmer and Jeb Brown as the narrator and bandleader — this truly feels like an ensemble piece. The cast is a band too, in a way.
Della Penna Absolutely — the cast as a band, that’s right. We were thinking about that for a while, getting a star in there [as] the narrator. I thought that would be more guaranteed juice for this to move [to Broadway]. But I also felt bad that it was sort of a cop out for the quality of the piece and the quality of the music. So I’m glad where it landed.
Yazbek: Yeah, me too. I was talking to somebody, maybe one of our producers, about how there’s the artistic currency of a show, but then there’s also, like, the currency for marketing the show itself. And to me, the currency for marketing the show is quality with a capital Q. The star of the show is how great everyone is who’s in it, and its uniqueness and its depth. Like, can’t you market that? (laughs)
Dead Outlaw
Matthew Murphy
Dead Outlaw started out at New York’s Minetta Lane Theater as part of Audible’s theater series there. How did that help launch the show?
Yazbek: There are several independent theaters, regional and local, that should have just immediately said, “Oh, the Band’s Visit guys. Oh, this music, oh, this story. Yeah, sure, here’s a slot.” And for some reason, I guess because we didn’t have a star and it wasn’t [preexistent] IP, they didn’t do it. I’ve had at least two artistic directors tell me how much they regret not doing it, which is very satisfying. But it was [Audible’s] Kate Nathan who said, “Oh, I think we can do this. I think we want to do this.” And as the budget grew, she just saw us through the development. That takes vision.
David, you’ve done big, splashy shows, and you’ve done smaller shows like this one. As creators, does doing a smaller-scale show allow you to do something that a big budget spectacle doesn’t as much?
Yazbek: Part of it is like independent film versus studio films. There are producers out there who don’t really understand how to bring quality, other than just bringing the big flying helicopter or whatever the money can buy. There are economic exigencies to putting up a show on Broadway and keeping it running. And from the very beginning [with Dead Outlaw], I had that in my head. When we first were thinking, “Oh, well, let’s just do this as a band show with one narrator, and that narrator’s in the band” — to me, that was like, how could you say no to that? It’s just got to be good, but it’ll also be so inexpensive that you could put it in a playhouse and it could run as long as people want to see it without us having to charge $800 a ticket. Sometimes great art is done with a limited palette, as opposed to with anything you want. How much value is there in seeing these eight performers do 60 parts, and they’re great? Like, that’s f–king theater right there.
KATSEYE dropped their new single “Gnarly,” and they ate and left no crumbs with the new choreography for the song. Keep watching for all the details on KATSEYE’s new song! What do you think of “Gnarly”? Let us know in the comments below! Tetris Kelly: Gang gang! The girls are back, and we’re giving you […]
This is partner content. Ariat hosted an exclusive event featuring a showcase of their latest fashion, a captivating performance by Annie Bosko, and delicious food. Stay tuned for an inside look at Ariat’s presence at Stagecoach! Narrator: Stagecoach isn’t just about the festival, it’s also about all the amazing events, like the exclusive brunch at […]

WWE’s WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas showcased the best wrestlers and musicians. From meet-and-greets with fans to Travis Scott’s appearance, fan opinions on John Cena and Cody Rhodes, and catching up with Bianca Belair before SmackDown, keep watching to catch everything you missed during the big weekend!
Were you at WrestleMania 41? Let us know in the comments!
Fan 1:It’s my first mania. I had to, I saved so much, went through so much, just to get here. And you know, the payoff is good.
Carl Lamarre:They were just like, “Yo, if we see New Day, we might have to jump.”
The New Day:For what? Who gonna jump us? Who gonna jump us? They can barely get off the couch how are they going to jump at anybody? Who said that?
Fan 2:Travis Scott is a b—h.
Fan 3:These fans. I mean, they’re the best in the world. I mean, they’re so passionate about everything that happens around WWE.
Excision, or Marilyn Manson because it’s angry and sexy.
Carl Lamarre: I love that. We spent the week in Las Vegas for all of the WWE activities before and after the main event. What’s going on y’all? I am deputy director of R&B/hip-hop, Carl Lamarre, and we are here live at WrestleMania in Las Vegas at WWE World. Billboard kicked off WrestleMania week on Thursday at WWE World. Think of it like Comic Con for wrestling fans. Wrestlers were signing top cards and belts. You could walk down the ramp to your favorite superstar’s entrance. Some pros were even giving wrestling demos in the ring. You could also catch a live podcast recording and thank John Cena for his 25 years in wrestling. Fanatics hosted a Make-a-Wish event with superstar wrestlers Tiffany Stratton and Braun Strowman in attendance.
Tiffany Stratton:I love the kids. That’s, like, my favorite part of being a superstar is getting to meet them and, like, do stuff like this, where they get to do their own entrances.
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Beyoncé kicked off her Cowboy Carter Tour in L.A. at SoFi Stadium on Monday night, and we’re taking you inside the highlights of the night. From Rumi making her debut onstage to Beyoncé performing her classic hit “Crazy In Love,” keep watching for more! Were you at the opening night of the Cowboy Carter Tour? […]
Paris Hilton graced Stagecoach 2025, and the pop queen shared how she prepped for her huge set, the details of her remix album, ‘Infinite Icon,’ and more!
Are you excited for Paris Hilton’s remix album? Let us know in the comments!
Tetris Kelly: We’re out here sliving with one of our favorite pop queens, Paris Hilton. How are you?
Paris Hilton: I am amazing right now. That was so much fun.
I mean, we gotta talk about how much fun it is. But let me tell you, you had one of the hottest sets at Stagecoach because Lance Bass from *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Shaboozey, me, we were all outside. We couldn’t even get in Paris.
I heard there was 1000s of people trying to get in.
We were desperately trying to see your set, and you killed it. Brought Lizzo out. How was that?
I love her so much. She is so kind, lovely, talented, beautiful, amazing. Her new single is so sick. And it was just so much fun, feeling the energy and how excited everyone was. And I’m just so proud.
And I mean, you’ve been killing your festival season in general. You also popped up and surprised everybody at Coachella. So how do you prepare to, like, come to these festivals and put on a show like that?
I’ve actually been preparing this set for the past three months. So I’ve been researching, finding the best remixes of every song, remixing my songs, everything. So I want it to be very special and unique. And the outfit like this is from THEBLONDS, like it was a whole thing. And then my dancers, I’m just so grateful to my whole team for helping me put on an iconic show.
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