How close are these matchups? We had a TIE in the last round.
The NCAA tournament may have been a little anticlimactic so far, with all #1 picks making it to the Final Four. But in our annual Whiskey Riff Madness tournament, we’ve had plenty of upsets and barnburners.
This year for our annual tournament we teamed up with our good friends at Rock the Country, a festival for “We The People,” to bring you a bracket for “We The People” featuring 64 of the most red, white and blue-blooded American country songs of all time – and let you, the readers, vote for your favorites.
As a quick refresher, here’s the bracket:
Of course Toby Keith is a strong favorite to win it all, but as the rounds have gone on the competition has only gotten stronger. In fact, it’s so tough that we had a tie during the Sweet Sixteen.
Before we get into the Elite Eight, let’s look back at the last round.
“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” continued its dominant run, easily beating “Something To Be Proud Of” by Montgomery Gentry, which had looked pretty strong earlier in the tournament. And Toby managed to get both of his remaining entries into the next round, with “American Soldier” taking down “Only In America” by Brooks & Dunn with 65% of the vote.
Justin Moore’s “Small Town USA” continued to look strong in its run from the 10th seed with a dominant victory over “It’s America” by Rodney Atkins.
But those were really the only blowouts of the entire round.
In somewhat of a surprise, Aaron Tippin’s “Where The Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly” took down Waylon Jenning’s “America” with 58% of the vote. And another outlaw country legend, Merle Haggard, lost his matchup with Alan Jackson as “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)” managed to sneak past the Hag’s “Fightin’ Side Of Me.”
A major upset, though, came from Whiskey Myers, whose “Ballad Of A Southern Man” managed to take down the Lee Greenwood classic “God Bless the USA” by only a handful of votes. Those Whiskey Myers fans ALWAYS show up, so I’m not counting on this being the end of the line for them just yet.
The closest matchup, though, was between “Letters From Home” by John Michael Montgomery and “Chicken Fried” by the Zac Brown Band. After thousands of votes cast in the round, we ended up with…a tie. 50-50. Exactly the same number of votes. (Ironically, there was a ballot that came in just minutes before the voting closed that left this one blank. Somebody out there could have been the tiebreaker if they had filled this one in).
So what do we do in the event of a tie? Well instead of flipping a coin or making the choice myself, I decided to go back and look at each song’s performance in previous rounds, and break the tie based on how many total votes each song has gotten so far during the tournament. And based on that, “Chicken Fried” has reached the end of the line as John Michael Montgomery and “Letters From Home” move on to the next round.
And these matchups are only going to get even tougher.
Here’s the updated bracket:
Voting is open NOW for the Elite Eight, and ends at 11:59 PM central time on Wednesday, April 2.
You can vote down below, or by clicking the link here, and you can vote as many times as you want if you have a favorite that you want to see move on to the next round.
As we saw in the last round, every single vote counts, so throw a few extra votes to your favorite song if you really want to see it stay alive. And of course if you haven’t already, start making your plans to celebrate America in person this summer at Rock the Country, coming to a small town near you with so much good country music that you’ll be ready to throw all your tea into the harbor.
This year, Rock the Country will feature a stacked lineup featuring headliners Kid Rock, Nickelback, Hank Williams Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with performances from incredible artists like Travis Tritt, Treaty Oak Revival, Tracy Lawrence, Aaron Lewis, Big & Rich, Shenandoah, and more. The lineup varies by city, so make sure to check out the closest one to you and get your tickets soon before they’re sold out and you’re left on the outside looking in like the British were in 1776.
Rock the Country Dates:
April 4-5 – Livingston, LA
April 25-26 – Knoxville, TN
May 2-3 – Poplar Bluff, MO
May 9-10 – Ocala, FL
May 30-31 – York, PA
June 13-14 – Hastings, MI
June 20-21 – Little Rock, AR
July 11-12 – Ashland, KY
July 18-19 – Sioux Falls, SD
July 25-26 – Anderson, SC
