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Not every holiday movie earns a spot on your watchlist — and we start this Friday episode by saving you two hours with a quick, honest Hallmark Christmas Movie Review of The Five-Year Christmas Party. Then we shift gears to something truly worth your time.

This week’s Country Climb Star of the Week, sent our way by Austin Burke and the Playlisted Podcast, is the incredible Rose Falcon — a songwriter’s songwriter with a story as powerful as her lyrics. Rose takes us through her journey from a shy poet growing up around Nashville studios to becoming a chart-topping writer whose songs have found homes with some of country music’s biggest names.

She shares unforgettable moments from her early life — singing at the dinner table for Jon Bon Jovi, signing a major-label deal at just 14, and learning firsthand that success doesn’t always come on the timeline you expect. We dig into the long, winding road of Friday Night, from an early work tape pitched to Lady A to its eventual climb to No. 1 with Eric Paslay — proof that sometimes your instincts are right, even when the wait is long.

At the heart of the conversation is Rose’s haunting new single “Whiskey and Water.” Inspired by a chance human connection while snowed in at a Minnesota casino, Rose unpacks how a “semi-true” moment became a deeply honest song. Working alongside Hillary Lindsey and Dylan Altman, she chose restraint, emotion, and storytelling over trends — and it shows.

Before wrapping up, Rose shares two more essential listens to round out her catalog: “Put Me Back Together” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” a Christ-centered holiday song from her duo Rod & Rose with husband Rodney Atkins. We also look ahead to her upcoming EP arriving this February.

If you love country music that’s built on truth, craft, and stories that stay with you, this Country Climb is for you.
 Follow the podcast, share this episode with a fellow lyric-lover, and leave a review telling us your favorite Rose Falcon line.

And as always — huge thanks to Austin Burke and the Playlisted Podcast for sending another incredible artist our way.