Country

In this week’s stack of new country releases, Carly Pearce welcomes Chris Stapleton on a scorching breakup ballad, Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley further tease upcoming albums with new tracks, while Dan Tyminski offers his first full-fledged bluegrass album in over a decade.

Carly Pearce feat. Chris Stapleton, “We Don’t Fight Anymore”

The devastatingly deep, bone-cutting honesty in Pearce’s album 29: Written in Stone, which centered on the dissolution of her marriage and a painful divorce, elevated Pearce’s career and acclaim as an artist and writer — catapulting her into the realm of multi-award winner, earning accolades from the Grammys, CMAs and ACMs. On her latest, written with Shane McAnally and Pete Good, Pearce returns to the realm of heartache, though this time, focusing on the slow dulling of love rather than a sharp slice of any betrayal.

“We don’t cuss and we don’t care enough to even hate,” she sings, her lead vocals accented by in-demand collaborator Chris Stapleton’s harmonies, followed by stirring vocal give-and-take. Though fans undoubtedly hoped for more of a true duet between these two superb vocalists, their harmonies wring out every bit of desperation and regret etched in the lyrics.

Brad Paisley, “So Many Summers”

On his latest release, and in anticipation of his upcoming album Son of the Mountains, Paisley returns to classic form on “So Many Summers,” which he wrote with Ross Copperman and Lee Thomas Miller. This song turns the party vibes and good times up to 10, while offering a steady reminder to wring joy out of every moment while you can — “You only get so many summers.” Paisley is no stranger to blending up-tempo fare with keen lyrics, whether assessing the evolution of global culture on “American Saturday Night” or technological advances on “Welcome to the Future.” But here, he offers the kind of enduring country music fare that steadfastly touches a vein with listeners—most recently with songs such as Texan Cody Johnson’s smash 2022 hit, the CMA Award-winning “’Til You Can’t,” and Tim McGraw’s “Standing Room Only” (not to mention’s McGraw’s 2004 signature “Live Like You Were Dying”).

Tim McGraw, “Hey Whiskey”

Speaking of McGraw, his latest release from his upcoming 17th studio album Standing Room Only, this surefire future Country Music Hall of Famer again asserts his penchant for top-shelf songwriting — this time courtesy of Brad Hutsell, Joel Hutsell and The Warren Brothers (Brad and Brett Warren).

McGraw’s voice is at once mellow and filled with dignified regret, as he chronicles the downward spiral of a young man who increasingly devotes his weekends to liquor to the point of dependency, until reaching an unmistakable realization that he relinquished a storied romance in the process.

Naomi Cooke Johnson, “Girls of Summer”

In 2011, George Strait earned a hit with a track that espoused, “I ain’t here for a long time/ I’m here for a good time.” Former Runaway June lead singer Naomi Cooke Johnson offers her own take on this notion, as she officially makes her solo bow on BBR Music Group/Stoney Creek Records. In “Girls of Summer,” she smartly retains the carefree, female empowerment sentiments that were so prominent in the Runaway June hit “Buy My Own Drinks,” while elevating it extra confidence, her purring voice painting vignettes of girls who “show off tanlines just to tease,” girls whose photos are still hidden in the cowboy hats of the guys they left long before the summer days were over.

Cooke Johnson co-wrote the song with Jason Duke and Jacob Durrett, with Durrett also producing the track.

Dan Tyminski, God Fearing Heathen

Tyminski issues his first bluegrass album in 15 years, following detours into more roots-oriented lanes with 2017’s Southern Gothic, and last year’s Tony Rice tribute project One More Time Before You Go. He offers a stellar bluegrass revision of “Hey Brother,” his 2013 collaboration with the Swedish DJ Avicii. Meanwhile, he teams with Luke Dick (Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves) and Jaida Dreyer to pen “Never Met a Stranger,” a delightful tribute to the freewheeling life of a musician.

But not all of these top-shelf tracks are so light-hearted; he delves into the story of a PTSD-suffering military veteran on “Silence in the Brandy,” and on the title track, muses that heaven is “for the losers and winners/ the hard-livin’, God-fearin’ heathens like me.” The album closes with “Ode to Jimmy,” a rollicking bluegrass scorcher feting Bluegrass Music Hall of Famer Jimmy Martin. Throughout the collection, Tyminski and his band offer expert instrumentation to further elevate this well-crafted set to tracks, spearheaded by Tyminski’s raw, yet smoothly superb, lead vocals.

Pecos and the Rooftops (feat. Kolby Cooper), “Memories”

Texas band Pecos & the Rooftops — which includes vocalist/guitarist Pecos Hurley, guitarists Brandon Jones and Zack Foster, bassist Kalen Davis and drummer Garrett Peltier—previously released their EP Red Eye in 2020 and earned a platinum-certified hit with “This Damn Song.” They return with their debut major label Warner project, The Album, which includes this collaboration with Kolby Cooper.

“Memories” finds Hurley and Cooper trading defiant, growling vocals over thrashing, furious guitar work, as the song muses over being on the better side of an imminent breakup, guaranteeing an ex-lover will remember them at every vulnerable moment.

Taylor Austin Dye, “Bible Belt”

Of late, a few artists including Jelly Roll and Pillbox Patti have become known for crafting country songs that shed light on the struggles, hopes and dreams of an often-overlooked segment of America — those who live in some of the most poverty-stricken places, where addictions and overdoses are a part of life. Kentucky native Taylor Austin Dye offers her own keen-eye perspective with “Bible Belt,” which, on its full-throttle, rock-soaked surface would seem another run-of-the-mill, radio-aimed track.

But lyrically embedded is a tale of poverty and the hard choices made to ensure a woman’s survival, as chronicled through the eyes of her daughter, who watches as her mother navigates cycles of drugs and sex work to cope and live among the slim economic prospects and abundant despair in rural Appalachia. “Born into this fire/ Don’t wanna die here,” she sings, embodying both the unflinching perspective born of a lifetime of poverty but also a merciless determination to rise above and chase a dream of a more stable life. Dye wrote the song with Nicole Croteau and Chris Utley, with Rob Pennington.

The Watson Twins, Holler

Identical twins Chandra and Leigh Watson hail from Kentucky, and issued their largely pop-positioned first project Southern Manners in 2006. While their previous albums have housed country-leaning moments, the duo’s latest album, Holler, delves deeper into their Kentucky roots, most notably on the saloon sizzling shuffle of “Two Timin’,” while on the barroom-ready “Honky Tonk Heart,” the twins lend their electrifying harmonies are embedded with grunge-edged guitars, spritely piano. Throughout the project, they deliver each track with a steely confidence, an abundance of handclaps and folk-pop sensibility.