Colby Acuff is still riding high after his Cinderella run all the way to the Whiskey Riff Madness championship.
Fresh off the release of his new album, Handmade Horsepower, the country music artist joins Whiskey Riff Raff to talk about the viral origins of his “Dunk That Sh*t” mantra, the art of meme marketing, why he thinks social media is broken, and shares his thoughts on some of the most talented artists in the genre still not getting the recognition they deserve.
Colby also dives into his frustrations with modern country music, explains why he believes Nashville is still the place to be for aspiring artists, and shares why Handmade Horsepower is the record he wants to be remembered for. He also discusses writing every song on the album himself, the short film that accompanies the project, and the impact artists like Sturgill Simpson have had on his career.
It’s a career that he can really be proud, because he’s done things his way every step of the way. One of the most recent examples of that is how he turned our Whiskey Riff Madness bracket into a social media engagement frenzy, and rode the wave all the way to the title as a 16-seed.
Colby says he normally wouldn’t interact with stuff the way he did with this past year’s Whiskey Riff Madness, but ultimately, he was just excited to be a part of the tournament:
“The fact that we even got seeded made me so excited, and I was like, ‘We could make all these funny memes around it and no one is gonna see it.’ Then obviously a lot of people saw it. But when that started, I just thought I’d never win the first one, or the second one, or the third one. But we just kept winning.”
During his David vs. Goliath run, Colby Acuff took down the likes of Chris Stapleton, Dierks Bentley, and the Red Clay Strays.
Hopefully you (the reader) were able to be a part of the madness that took place a couple of months ago. It was quite the moment when the champion was announced, and all of the memes and messaging that Acuff rolled out for weeks on end (that he made himself) paid off.
The only problem? He had the flu when he found out he had taken the crown:
“When we won, when we actually won (the whole thing), it was announced on a Monday. I woke up with the flu that morning. My fever was over 100 and I was so, so sick. I could see the comments like, ‘Oh, Colby is awfully quiet today.’ I was dying. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted to celebrate.”
Surely the victory made his bout with the flu suck a bit less.
And it’s the win that keeps on giving long after the Whiskey Riff Madness voting closed. Colby says his fans have kept the spirit of his Cinderella run alive during his 2026 tour:
“On tour this year, that’s been a big topic. Everyone wants to talk about it, telling me, ‘Oh I just kept voting.’ For the first two months or so of the tour, we were getting big ‘Dunk That Sh*t’ chants.”
Bringing the college basketball atmosphere to all of Acuff’s tour stops… that’s electric.
If you were wondering where the phrase came from, or if it sounded a bit familiar, the “LIPSTICK ON A PIG” singer says he and his band have been saying it to one another for quite some time, and it’s origin traces back to the classic 2003 comedy film Anger Management:
“The ‘Dunk that Sh*t’ is something that me and my band would say every now and then. I believe it’s actually from a movie, ‘Anger Management.’ They send this guy to a gambling rehab class, and they show highlights of people missing lay ins, and he’s a big basketball guy and he freaks out and goes, ‘You gotta dunk that sh*t.’ That was one of the very first ones we did, and that really took off.”
@whiskeyriff Dunk that sh*t @Colby Acuff #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff
Not only did it take off… it fueled a championship run.
You can hear about all of that and more from Colby Acuff by checking out the interview on YouTube or making sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or by clicking here.
We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.
Cheers, y’all.
