5 of the Strangest Country Star Rider Requests, From Underwear to Pork Rinds

Although we often associate complicated or outrageous tour rider requests with raucous rock ‘n’ rollers or pop divas, country stars are certainly no strangers to the odd rider requirement or two. Riders, of course, are contracts outlining artist demands in exchange for their performance at a specific venue. If the venue doesn’t fulfill their requests, an artist or band can legally refuse to perform the breach of contract.

Some backstage requirements are pretty understandable. Lainey Wilson, for example, requests a box of soothing Throat Coat tea and lemon cough drops in her green room. But other country stars have taken their strange rider requests to all new levels.

Ah, to be so rich and famous, you can legally require someone else to go out and buy you a bag of pork rinds.

Kid Rock: Fresh Pack of Underwear

Kid Rock requires an assortment of fresh undergarments backstage, including Fruit of the Loom or Hanes white t-shirts (with a pocket), white tank tops, white boxer shorts, and white crew socks. As strange as Kid Rock’s tour rider requirements might sound, we suppose there is merit to knowing he’s not running around on stage in dirty underwear.

Of course, considering this artist’s prolific performance schedule, are we to assume that he’s been leaving a trail of dirty socks and boxers across the country as he goes from venue to venue? A mystery of the rich and famous, we suppose.

Tim McGraw: Tuna and Muscle Milk

Although Tim McGraw has developed quite a reputation for his dedication to his physical fitness, he takes some time before the show to enjoy a few cheat snacks. In an interview with Taste of Country, McGraw revealed that he enjoyed eating peanut M&Ms and Mexican Cokes with real cane sugar pre-show.

While these sweet treats sound normal enough, he added another food and drink combo that, if we’re being honest, sounds…pretty disgusting. When he’s done snacking on M&Ms and coke, McGraw likes to eat a tuna sandwich and Muscle Milk. We’ll let you sit with the mental image of that flavor combination.

Dixie Chicks: Mid-Morning Tee Times

Some country stars want their rider requests to make their green room experience more comfortable. Others want to find some time away from their green room. Back in 2000, the Chicks, then known as the Dixie Chicks, found themselves in the latter category. According to a tour rider on The Smoking Gun, the Chicks requested six 10 am tee time passes on show day.

The country stars had specifics for those tee times, too. The tee times must include golf carts at the closest par 72 championship-level course. They also required three golf carts for use at the venue for transporting the Chicks.

Rascal Flatts: A Paid-By-The-Minute Masseuse

Rascal Flatts traveled with a touring catering company in the late 2000s, so their tour rider dealt with stage logistics more than snacks and sodas. However, they did have one interesting addition to their 2009 rider, per The Smoking Gun: a masseuse.

“We will need one female masseuse for the day who can work from 1 pm until doors open (usually 6 pm or 7 pm). She should be paid $1.00 per minute with no minimum massages. Her clients will pay cash, except for the three principal artists. She can visit the tour production office after her shift to collect payment for any of those massages.”

Lady A: Mystery Pork Rinds

Country trio Lady A deserves a place on this list, not necessarily because of the items on their tour rider but because, for a brief moment, no one knew why those items were on the contract in the first place. In a conversation with Taste of Country, Lady A vocalist Hillary Scott mentioned some standard rider items: water for tea, power bars for energy, and alcohol for, well, alcohol.

Dave Haywood added that he noticed there were always pork rinds in their dressing rooms, but he didn’t know why because he had never requested them. That’s when Charles Kelley popped in and said he had put them on the contract years prior and had simply forgotten to take them off the list.

The band said the pork rinds are always gone by the night’s end, though, so all’s well that ends well.

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