Zach Bryan is getting candid about his relationship with alcohol, revealing that he once drank as many as 15 beers a day and was intoxicated when he wrote nearly every hit song of his career.

The country star, 30, opened up about his sobriety during a conversation with Matthew McConaughey that was released alongside his latest EP, "Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs."

Bryan detailed how his drinking eventually led to severe panic attacks that left him fearing he was going to die.

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"When I got in the throes of drinking f---ing 15 beers in a day and I kept going with that cycle, I started getting these really, really severe panic attacks where my whole body went numb, and I thought I was going to have a stroke and die," he told McConaughey.

"I’d curl up for days at a time, and I went to a doctor. And, like I said, I still didn’t believe it. I told the doctor, ‘Man, I’m just hungover. I’m fine.’ And the doctor was like, ‘No, man. You have a really severe thing going on here.’"

Bryan said his doctor diagnosed him with panic disorder and suggested that quitting alcohol could help.

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"[My doctor] said, ‘I think you have a pretty bad panic disorder. And if you quit drinking, that might help you a little bit.’ So I tried it, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah.’"

Before giving up alcohol, Bryan said he relied on drinking to manage his stage fright.

"So I used to get on stage. Here’s my routine. I used to think this was the perfect routine. No show could ever go bad if I did this: work out, shower, play my guitar, listen to Bon Iver, drink four beers," he recalled.

"It eased my pain. All the stage fright I had was gone after I drank three or four beers, and I’m like, ‘I can do it.’ Then I would drink after the show, too."

Bryan said he would wake up the next day facing another performance and repeat the same cycle.

"I’d wake up the next day with another show, and I’d think, ‘Well, to get rid of this panic in me, to get rid of this stage fright, there’s one choice. Let’s do what we’ve always done,’" he said. "I’d drink two or three more beers. And I thought I was never going to get out of that. I thought that cycle was forever."

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The singer-songwriter said his managers had questioned whether he had tried performing without alcohol, but he viewed drinking as part of his routine.

"They would always be like, ‘Hey, have you tried not drinking before a show?’ Like, I can’t. It’s my routine. It’s my lucky socks," Bryan said.

"For a long time, I danced with that. Years, I danced with that. And it worked, you know. I was playing a good show. I was paying my bills. I was doing everything. I employed 100 or 200 people. I was like, ‘This is fine.’"

Bryan said performing sober is more intimidating at first, but ultimately more rewarding.

"I will say now that I’ve quit drinking, stages are more scary," he admitted. "But once I get on stage, it’s a lot more enjoyable. So much better. It feels like flying. It’s more fun. It’s the best feeling in the world."

Bryan said the realization that he was responsible for his own struggles came after years of denial.

"I used to be so terrified of that," he said of performing sober. "And that denial is what got me there. That denial is what brought me to those panic attacks. I was the issue the whole time."

The Grammy winner also said he had convinced himself that alcohol was essential to his songwriting process.

"Every hit I ever had, I was pretty much drunk when I made it," Bryan said. "And so I had the issue of thinking I was never going to have a good song again if I wasn’t under the influence."

He described the belief as a "real curse" that made him feel as though he had to repeat the same rituals in order to create music.

"This is the first project I’ve ever done, this ‘Young Manhood’ thing, that I didn’t drink a lick," he said. "I wrote every word sober and I sang every word sober. And I’ll say it took that to prove to me that I could do it."

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Bryan admitted that he once dismissed sobriety and didn't recognize that his own drinking had become a problem.

"I always thought sobriety was a joke because it’s people who couldn’t control themselves celebrating not being able to control themselves," Bryan said. "When I was drinking a lot, I always thought, ‘Why can’t you control yourself?’ I never realized I had a problem."

The singer said his perspective changed during a solo 30-day motorcycle trip across the country.

Bryan said he spent much of the trip stopping at bars and drinking himself to sleep. When he reached a Pilot truck stop outside Seattle, he bought a 40-ounce Budweiser and sat on a curb beside his motorcycle.

"I’ll never forget this as long as I live," he said. "I went into this Pilot and I grabbed a 40 [ounce bottle of] Budweiser, and I’m sitting on the curb with my motorcycle in front of me, and I’m drinking it. And I’m thinking, ‘What the hell was all that worth? Why did I do any of that? I feel emptier than when I left.’"

Bryan said he realized he had spent the previous 30 days chasing a "big romantic movie moment," only to find himself alone in a parking lot.

"I’ve got nowhere to go home to, no one to call," he recalled thinking. "That’s when I said, ‘Man, why am I drinking right now? What am I celebrating?’"

"It changed me a lot, that parking lot," he said. "That was the moment I realized, when I went and got that 40, I was like, ‘Man, it’s f---ing 3. You’ve got an issue. Why do you want to drink a 40 right now in the Seattle Pilot parking lot?’"

Bryan previously announced in November 2025 that he had been sober for two months, writing that he had used alcohol to cope with a "perpetual discontent" and a "consistent black hole" inside him.

During his conversation with McConaughey, Bryan said sobriety has helped him feel more creative, energized and content.

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"I feel great. I feel content. I feel whole," he said. "There’s nothing I need to get me by anymore."

Country music star Randy Houser spends a lot of his life on the road, but when the shows are over and the tour bus stops rolling, there's usually one thing on his mind.

Finding somewhere to fish.

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"When I get off the tour bus, I'm literally looking for some water to get on," Houser told OutKick OutDoors in an exclusive interview.

For the Mississippi native, that love of fishing started long before the hit songs, sold-out shows and life on the road.

"Growing up in Mississippi, that's about all we had. We had bluegill, catfish and bass," he said.

These days, Houser's fishing adventures have taken him a little farther from home. He's traded the freshwater lakes of Mississippi for the turquoise waters of the Bahamas, where he's developed a particular fondness for fly fishing.

"I spend a lot of time bonefishing in the Bahamas. That's kind of my thing now, as I enjoy fly fishing for bonefish and permit and things like that," he explained. "I spend a lot of my time doing that in the winter."

And while getting away from the demands of touring is certainly part of the appeal, Houser's connection to the water runs deeper than simply needing a vacation.

"I think that stems from all the time I spent on the water as a kid," he said.

It's also a passion he shares with his wife and children, who frequently join him on the water.

But one of Houser's most memorable fishing experiences wasn't about the size of the fish or the destination. It was about the people he shared it with.

More than just fishing

The country star recalled a three-day bonefishing trip to Blackfly Lodge in the Bahamas with the Navy SEAL Foundation, where he spent time alongside active and retired Navy SEALs.

"I'm a huge supporter of our military and military families and personnel," Houser said. "To get that time with those guys and get them in a space where they're on the water and can relax, and just to hear stories that they wouldn't normally talk about in a different situation, was just priceless."

For Houser, the opportunity to connect with those men away from their everyday responsibilities made the trip unforgettable.

"I got to hear just personal experiences from those guys," he said. "I'll remember it forever. It was really cool."

Now, Houser is preparing to bring his love of music and fishing together in a big way.

Country music meets bass fishing in Nashville

On Friday, Oct. 30, he'll perform alongside his friend and fellow country star Riley Green at The Pinnacle in Nashville as part of The Champions, a new professional bass fishing tournament hosted by World Bass Enterprises.

The tournament, held on Old Hickory Lake, brings together top anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series and Major League Fishing's Bass Pro Tour to compete for a record $3.25 million purse, including $1.25 million for the winner.

For someone who grew up fishing for fun in Mississippi, Houser said it's remarkable to see just how far competitive bass fishing has come.

He recalled learning that a friend's son was competing on a college bass fishing team and thinking about how different things were when he was growing up.

"I thought, wow, what a dream," he said. "If I was in high school, I'd have been thinking, 'Lord, you mean I can get a scholarship to go fishing?'"

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Houser compared the difficulty of becoming a successful professional angler to making it as a professional golfer, noting the tremendous skill, sponsorships and resources necessary to compete at the highest level.

And he believes Nashville is the perfect place to showcase how much the sport has grown.

"There's a strong synergy between country music, country music listeners and bass fishing," he said.

With Old Hickory and Percy Priest lakes nearby, Houser is familiar with the area's fishing opportunities. He's spent plenty of time fishing Old Hickory himself and expects The Champions to draw a significant crowd, both for the concerts and the competition.

"I think they're going to have a lot more fans than they expected," he said. "Not just for the music at The Pinnacle, but also hanging out at the lake waiting for the weigh-ins and things like that."

Houser is especially looking forward to performing with Green, whom he considers a good friend. The two have spent plenty of time touring together, although their busy schedules haven't allowed for much fishing lately.

They do, however, have plans to do some hunting together once the weather cools down.

Another bonus of The Champions taking place in Nashville? Houser gets to bring his children to the show — something he said doesn't happen very often.

For a man who grew up with a fishing rod in his hands, it's a fitting opportunity to celebrate just how far the sport has come while sharing the experience with his own family.

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And once the concert is over and Houser climbs back aboard that tour bus, there's a pretty good chance he'll already be thinking about his next trip to the water.

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Zach Bryan notched another impressive career accomplishment.

Bryan is one of the biggest names in music, and his career has reached rarified air. The country music icon is capable of selling out stadiums wherever he goes, including internationally.

The "Something in the Orange" singer also released his new EP — "Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs" — this month.

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It featured collaborations with Lana Del Rey and the Turnpike Troubadours. It's 100% worth checking out.

Now, he’s proven once again that winning simply does not stop.

Zach Bryan pulls off massive career accomplishment

Bryan recently had this third song break through a billion streams on Spotify after "Heading South" pushed past the mark, according to Whiskey Riff.

The song, which was released in 2019, has 1,000,455,459 plays on Spotify as of publication. You can give it a listen below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

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"Heading South" follows "Something in the Orange" and "I Remember Everything" for songs from Bryan to reach at least a billion streams on Spotify.

Whiskey Riff reported that only a total of 21 country music songs have ever pulled off the accomplishment.

Pumping out great music that dominates the charts isn't the only thing Bryan is currently doing. He's launching his "Young Manhood & Other Donatable Organs" tour in 2027.

The tour will take the popular singer across America, Canada and Australia. Best of luck to anyone trying to get tickets.

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It will be interesting to see what Bryan manages to do next. Let me know your thoughts on his music at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

Has Christian Pulisic moved up to lock screen picture material for Megan Moroney? That's the word on the street after the country singer's lock screen on her phone appeared to show the USMNT star.

This is round three of the dating rumors by my count, anyway. There was the rooftop bar sighting in Nashville and her trip to Italy that included her wearing what looked like one of his jerseys.

As someone who isn't up on all the lock screen protocols, I don’t know if a friend makes the cut or not. That said, it seems like it would be reserved for someone of more significance. But what do I know?

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Moroney, after performing during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, was leaving the event's after-party when the lock screen was spotted. You can see the picture of her leaving here and assign any significance you'd like to it.

I'd like to shift the focus, if I may, to something else that took place at the fashion show involving the singer. Yes, she made a dream of hers come true by performing a few songs on the runway, and that's great.

But it was a moment on the red carpet prior to the show that grabbed my attention. A heartwarming moment where she gave people a look at the person behind the persona.

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It came with a simple story about overcoming an unexpected challenge. She was asked what was the most outrageous thing she's ever done in the name of fashion. Her answer involved another red carpet appearance.

"I’ll tell you what my brain immediately went to. The ACM Awards a few years ago, I had these like sticky underwear on, and they fell off on the carpet," Moroney told E News.

"Then I just took them off and gave them to my publicist. So yeah, I didn’t have underwear on, on the carpet. That’s outrageous."

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It's outrageous. It's pushing through a difficult moment. It's human. It's storytelling. It's part of having yourself a huge night. Megan Moroney nailed this red carpet interview.

She then nailed her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show runway performance, even with enormous wings on, and topped it off with some Christian Pulisic fodder for those who spend their days in the celebrity rumor mill.

This is riding a media wave like a seasoned professional.

Koe Wetzel and Ella Langley linked up for a performance going viral online.

Wetzel and Langley have a long history of working together, and the pair has pumped out some monster country music hits together.

The two released "That’s Why We Fight" in 2023 and "Jaded" this year. Both songs are big hits with country music fans.

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Now, the two talented performers are, once again, setting the internet on fire.

Koe Wetzel and Ella Langley link up for a performance in Utah.

The two performed at the RedWest Festival in Utah this past Friday, and they linked up on stage to bust out a performance of "That's Why We Fight" for fans in attendance.

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Wetzel shared a video of the performance on his TikTok, and as you'd expect, the duo gave fans exactly what they were expecting.

Give it a watch below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

People in the comments were quick to fire off plenty of reactions and responses to the two country stars performing together.

One fan wrote, "These two need to tour together."

Another added, "Two of my faves!"

A third commented, "I absolutely love this."

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There's no doubt Langley and Wetzel teaming up will always move the needle, and this performance is proof of that fact.

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It will be fun to see what the two can cook up next. Let me know your predictions at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

by Paul Craig Roberts, Paul Craig Roberts: What is the point of eliminating meaning from language? Who brought us “inclusive terminology” and for what purpose?  Moreover, it is most certainly not inclusive.  For example, it eliminates “mother” and “father” and replaces them with “parent” or “care giver.”  What is inclusive about eliminating gender identification?  “Mother” of “father” conveys far […]

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