Song Reviews
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First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Dierks Bentley with Ashley McBryde, “Cowboy Boots”
“They ain’t broke in until they’ve broke a few horses and some hearts,” Dierks Bentley sings in this sentimental ode to trusty, dusty old boots. Joining Bentley is is another superb, rootsy-warm vocalist, Ashley McBryde. Together, they bring all out the best nuances in this track, which is included on Bentley’s upcoming album Gravel & Gold, out Feb. 24.
Shania Twain, Queen of Me
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Shania Twain returns with the album Queen of Me, her followup to 2017’s Now. Here she nods to the current culture’s fervent nostalgia for ’90s music — both pop and country. With three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (“You’re Still the One,” “That’ Don’t Impress Me Much,” “From This Moment On”), Twain has been one of the foremost architects of the ear-catching, euphoric pop-country blend, and brings to this new project a continuation of the peppy, empowering messages (see songs such as inescapably danceable “Giddy Up!” and “Not Just a Girl”), layered over staunchly pop productions that legions of fans have come to expect. Given her battle with health issues including Lyme disease and dysphonia, Twain’s vocal does sound different than her projects from the mid-’90s, but she uses her voice’s newly gritty texture with great impact, as it lends an added toughness to her defiant, triumphant storylines such as “Brand New” and “Queen of Me.”
Morgan Wallen, “Everything I Love”
Leading up to the March 3 release of his upcoming massive, 36-track album One Thing at a Time, Wallen released three new songs this week: “Last Night,” “Everything I Love” and “I Wrote the Book.” “Everything” is the most traditional country of the three, holding on to his country/rock/hip-hop hybrid, while incorporating a ’70s Allman Brothers vibe — and the the lyrics offer a direct nod to the Brothers’ classic “Midnight Rider” on the lyric, “We were listenin’ to ‘one more silver dollar’/ Hanging out in my Silverado.”
Corey Kent, “Man of the House”
Kent follows his radio hit “Wild as Her” with this moody, autobiographical track about a boy forced to grow up a little too fast, trying to “fill shoes that ain’t my size” in order to make up for the hole left by an absent father. The memories and inner struggle tumble out as his voice runs the gamut from subdued and husky to an angsty near-scream as the memories and inner struggles tumble out, before he muses that now grown up and a father, he’s still “a boy trying to be the man of the house.” A solid showcase of Kent’s maturing acumen as a songwriter and vocal interpreter.
4Runner, “Ragged Angel”
This group first signed with Polydor in 1995, released their debut track “Cain’s Blood” and earned followup hits. Years later, they disbanded to raise their respective families. But now, they return with their first release in nearly two decades, on a reimagined version of a song they first released in 2004 — and a new baritone singer, with lead singer Craig Morris’ son Sam. In that time, it’s clear the group’s Eagles-esque, full-bodied harmonies are perfectly intact on this uplifting and buoyant track, which feels like a perfect throwback in an era filled with nostalgia for 1990s and 2000s country sounds.
Charles Wesley Godwin, “The Jealous Kind”
Godwin’s scruffy voice offers bone-baring honesty on this cover of Chris Knight’s “The Jealous Kind,” accompanied by cool piano licks and haunting bass lines. He and his band kick up the tempo, leaning into the urgency reverberating through the song’s storyline, detailing a guy outrunning the law to reach his wayward lover.
“I never drove two days through the pouring rain just stopping for coffee and gas,” he sings. “Never outrun the law on the interstate/ Didn’t know this thing’d go that fast … but there’s always a first time.”
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Zach Bryan and Maggie Rogers, “Dawns”
This slow-burn, angst-filled song finds Bryan and pop stalwart Rogers fighting through anger, sadness and loss, desperate to turn back time and reclaim happier moments. The ache simmering below the lyrical tension is palpable, particularly on lines recalling the passing of a parent, as their illustrious harmonies intertwine on “I lost her last July in a heart attack/ I need one small victory/ Give me my dawns back.”
Cole Swindell, “Drinkaby”
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Swindell follows up his four-week No. 1 Country Airplay hit “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” with his latest, an uptempo, rock-tinged and radio-ready track about drinking away a broken heart. Swindell will release his new project Stereotype Broken on April 28.
Luke Combs, “Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old”
Reigning CMA entertainer of the Year Combs is gearing up to release the followup to his 2022 album, Growin’ Up, on March 24 when he drops his new album, Gettin’ Old. Bridging the two projects is his new song, “Growing Up and Gettin’ Old,” which acknowledges getting older but still knowing how to let loose.
“I spend most of my happy hours here at home … but I can still raise hell all night with the boys when I want to,” he sings, his electrifying-yet-earthy voice soundtracking this time in his life as a husband, father and entertainer at the top of his game.
Struggle Jennings feat. Jelly Roll, “Hard to Hate”
Country-rap artist Jennings is the grandson of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, while Jelly Roll just notched his first No. 1 Country Airplay hit with “Son of a Sinner.” These two have a long history of collaborations, previously releasing four Waylon & Willie projects. Their latest, a slow-burn, bluesy-rock hybrid, revels in leaving things that no longer serve you in the past and making the most of the days that are ahead.
Jordyn Shellhart, “Who Are You Mad At”
Shellhart is already known for her role writing songs like Little Big Town’s “Sugar Coat” and Cody Johnson’s “I Always Wanted To.” Now, in this song she co-penned with Marc Beeson and Allen Shamblin, she continues her evolution as an artist, with this stellar track showcasing Shellhart as an introspective, mature writer and a skilled vocalist.
Her clear-eyed lyricism chronicles stormy arguments with a hot-headed lover, but she fearlessly delves below the surface — refusing to accept the arrows he’s throwing and drawing out pain she knows is actually aimed at his ex-lover.
Jake Owen, “My Boots Miss Yours”
He’s got a toe-tappin’ way of attempting to convince a lover that one night of spinning around a dancefloor under neon lights together was far from enough. “What ya say we get ’em back together?Make a little trail of clothes and leather,” he sings, his warm, mellow vocal delivery a good foil for the understated flirtatiousness the song demands.
On the Outside, “Go Broke”
With a sunny sound and pop-country hooks aplenty to further elevate R&B-shaded, stacked harmonies, this five-part group seems poised to pick up Rascal Flatts’ mantle. “Go Broke” has the driving rhythm and glistening instrumentation of Keith Urban’s early work, while the explosive chorus feels like a solid throwback to early 2000s country-pop. Currently working with Jimmy Robbins and Mike Shimshack, the group inked a publishing deal last year with Warner Chappell Music and Mailbox Money Music.
Nickel Creek, “Strangers”
Lauded group Nickel Creek will return with their first album in nine years, when Celebrants drops on March 24. More than two decades after Nickel Creek first broke through with their 2000 self-titled album–and garnered two Grammy nominations in the process, followed by a Grammy win later for their album This Side–the group’s latest song highlights their unfettered harmonies and years-forged, tight-knit playing. The trio’s Chris Thile and siblings Sean and Sara Watkins recorded the album at Nashville’s RCA Studio A.
The video for the track is straightforward, putting the emphasis on the trio’s urgent performance — which conveys the simmering anxieties, wonder and hopes for sustained mutual esteem that come with reuniting with an old friend after a prolonged absence.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
HARDY, The Mockingbird & The Crow
HARDY, the reigning ACM songwriter of the year, has earned a reputation as one of Nashville’s top songsmiths, writing hits for everyone from Florida Georgia Line to Morgan Wallen, and leading the radio charts on songs like “One Beer.” His latest album, a half country/half rock project, out via Big Loud/Big Loud Rock, is a norm-busting, unbridled 17-track set that finds HARDY in full, centered possession of his musical range. His considerable country songcraft on tracks like “Happy” and “Wait in the Truck” crashes into the unrestrained grunge of “Sold Out” and “I Ain’t in the Country No More.” There’s no mistaking the artistic defiance in “Radio Song,” featuring Jeremy McKinnon, which punches back at industry restrictions (“Do this, do that/ That shirt, this hat/ Don’t forget to smile/Kiss the ring once in a while…Well f**k that and f**k you”). He wraps the album with the anthemic “The Redneck Song,” a country melody espousing trucks covered in mud, dip spit on a collar and Earnhardt shirts from Walmart, intertwined with a surging, arena-ready chorus.
Dolly Parton, “Don’t Make Me Have to Come Down There”
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A danceable melody pairs with Parton’s effervescent-yet-motherly vocals on the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s latest. The song details a dream Parton had, of seeing a higher power looking down on the world in despair, and seeking greater reconciliation, love and peace (“Why can’t you learn to listen and learn to love and share?”), even as the world rages with wars, pandemics, politics and hate. The song ends with a quirky chorus that builds Parton’s airy, angelic voice into its own circle of harmonies.
Jordan Davis, “No Time Soon”
Davis’ “Buy Dirt” (featuring Luke Bryan) won song of the year at the 2022 CMA Awards, and Davis sits atop Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart this week with “What My World Spins Around.” He turns up the heat on his latest, a sensuous song shot through with romantic fervor, as Davis’ voice builds with anticipation on lines like “My heart’s like a matchbook and your kiss is a fuse.” Davis’s upcoming album, Bluebird Days, will be released Feb. 17.
Mandi Sagal, “One Less Broken Heart”
“If you would’ve faced your demons in the dark/ This world would have one less broken heart,” Sagal states here, her tenderly bruised vocal soaring over acoustic guitar as she details the pills, smoke and whiskey her ex turned to instead of doing the hard work of healing. Instead, she’s the one spilling to strangers seated across from her and working through the relationship’s emotionally tattered aftermath, as she deadpans, “Guess I’m doing all the work you wouldn’t do.”
Chapel Hart, “Glory Days”
On the familial trio’s latest, “Glory Days” — written by the group’s sisters Danica and Devynn Hart and cousin Trea Swindle (along with songwriter Jim Beavers) — they return to the positivity and sass found on some of their earlier releases, along with their signature earthy, smooth harmonies. The new track chronicles the countless miles, concerts, rejections and breakthroughs they’ve faced on their journey to this point and showcases the spirited determination and gratitude for music that has taken them to stages including America’s Got Talent and the Grand Ole Opry.
Meghan Patrick, “She’s No Good for Me”
This swirling, peppy track bubbles with youthful energy, but draws listeners into Patrick’s space of self-examination and emotional evolution. Here, she looks back on the girl she used to be, grateful that her reality is no longer one of repeated heartbreaks and endless nights fueled by “Smoking Marlboro Lights, running up my tab again,” only to end up “passed out, makeup on, stained my pillow case.” Another strong outing from this Canada native, who has taken home multiple Canadian Country Music Association awards.
Caitlyn Smith, “Lately”
This lush piano ballad showcases Smith’s beguiling, peerless vocals, as she conveys the myriad ways she attempts to distract herself from thoughts of her absent lover. The song’s cozy, unhurried production only elevates the feelings of longing and loneliness the lyrics encapsulate. Smith is well-known as a top-shelf song crafter and engaging performer, and this song is yet another testament to her ineluctable talents. Smith’s High & Low album is due April 14.
Willie Nelson, “Busted”
On his upcoming album, I Don’t Know a Thing About Love, the legendary singer-songwriter honors another gifted writer, Harlan Howard, with performances of 10 Howard compositions — including this tale of a poor farmer fretting over various financial hardships, while still retaining hope. Written by Howard in 1962, the song has previously been recorded by Johnny Cash with the Carter Family, Ray Charles and John Conlee. Nelson himself has history with this song, having previously performed a live rendition of it with Charles, which was included on the 2005 duets project Genius & Friends. Here, on this solo rendition, his voice is spright and weathered at all the right moments, and right at home among this sparse, honky-tonk amalgam of guitars, harmonica and bluesy rhythms.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Chris Young, “All Dogs Go to Heaven”
Young releases two new songs today, and each revolves around love and devotion. “Looking For You” depicts a couple’s love story, while “All Dogs Go to Heaven” is a tribute to man’s best friend. “He’s the closest thing to pure love that I’ve never known,” Young sings in “All Dogs Go to Heaven.” On this tender track, Young’s low-key (yet passionate) vocal still pierces the soul.
Lukas Graham and Mickey Guyton, “Home Movies”
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Guyton teams with Danish pop band Lukas Graham for the inspirational ballad “Home Movies,” which leans into the value in looking back on memories, even the less than superlative ones. These two artists pair wondrously on this sleek, anthemic pop ballad. The song is from Lukas Graham’s upcoming album 4 (The Pink Album), out Jan. 20.
Dierks Bentley, “Same Ol’ Me”
Bentley mashes up a swampy, honkytonk vibe with bluegrass flourishes as he declares that though time brings changes to fashions, hairstyles and age, he will remain steadfast in his love for down-to-earth bars, getting rowdy and his significant other. The song is from Bentley’s upcoming 10th album, Gravel & Gold, out Feb. 24.
Diplo feat. Kodak Black and Koe Wetzel, “Wasted”
Thomas Wesley (aka Diplo) comes galloping back into the country scene, this time teaming with Koe Wetzel and Kodak Black for the party jam “Wasted.” The track is a deft blend of pulsating, hard rock rhythm with a lyric that muses on the peaks and valleys of being intoxicated. “The pistol on the counter keeps starin’ at me, I threw away the bullets and I gave it away/ ‘Cause life is so much sweeter when you taste it/ Bring me back to life when I’m wasted,” they sing. Diplo released his first country-tinged project 2020, spearheaded by the hit “Heartless” with Morgan Wallen.
Ian Munsick, “River Run”
Gorgeous fiddle laces this organic musical romp as he recalls a short-lived romance with a lover whose “gypsy blood runs through her veins.” Though he, like many in his small town “just settle like the dust when the day is done,” he acknowledges that she, like the river, will never stay still. His sophomore album, White Buffalo, will be released April 7.
Alana Springsteen, “You Don’t Deserve a Country Song”
“You didn’t give me anything that’s worth writing down,” Springsteen sings with a forceful retort over a jaunty melody, making it clear she won’t be wasting her pen, paper and songwriting talents on a subpar ex-lover. This confidence bolstering jam also namechecks Brooks & Dunn’s “Neon Moon,” Keith Urban’s “You’ll Think of Me,” and Rascal Flatts’ “What Hurts the Most.” Bonus points for Springsteen tacking on a voice memo of her co-writers singing along at the end.
Drayton Farley, “Norfolk Blues”
Farley parlays his time working on the railroad into this driving folk-rock track, which finds him chronicling working double shifts far from home and hanging onto the hope of providing his family a better life in the process. The honesty, ache and resolution in Farley’s rough-hewn voice are palpable, making him a potential major contender with the new wave of rawer rock production and vulnerable vocals that is currently impacting country music. “Norfolk Blues” will be included on Farley’s upcoming Sadler Vaden-produced album Twenty on High, out March 3 via Hargrove Records/Thirty Tigers.
Michael Warren, “Another Round”
Warren delivers a polished, radio-friendly track that simmers in the romantic early days of a relationship and namechecks Shenandoah in the process. Warren’s warm and amiable, paired with the song’s smooth production, should make this track at home on any number of country and pop playlists.
Royale Lynn, “Runs in the Water”
This newcomer brings ferocious, ceiling-scraping vocals and melds them with a roaring chorus and scorching guitar work on par with anything that came out of the hard-driving 2000s rock and country scenes.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Shania Twain, “Giddy Up!”
Shania knows her way around an energetic, danceable song, including her latest “Giddy Up!,” from her upcoming album Queen of Me, out Feb. 3. Eschewing a high-gloss pop finish, she instead relies on pulsating acoustic guitar to offer an assertive rhythm that matches the arena-sized confidence in her lyrics, which (similar to some of her mega-hits such as “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”) advocate for living your best life right now–or as Twain puts it, “Time to shine like I know you should.”
Elle King, “Tulsa”
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From the first rollicking guitar notes, King brings her signature intrepid swagger, delighting in exposing a cheating lover. The song’s hook centers on her ex hightailing it back to “Tulsa,” though she makes it clear that “if you spell it back-to-front,” she’s not exactly referencing a city in Oklahoma. The “Ex’s and Oh’s” singer has also scored two Billboard Country Airplay No. 1s, with Dierks Bentley (“Different For Girls”) and Miranda Lambert (“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”). But as she gears up to release her first country album, Come Get Your Wife, on Jan. 27, songs like “Tulsa” telegraph her intentions to bring her rock-infused, bawdy-yet-vulnerable sound with her.
Chase Rice, “I Hate Cowboys”
Rice’s latest release finds him detailing the easygoing, nonchalant coolness of smooth-talking, two-stepping cowboys–and their relative ease at stealing hearts. But instead of piling on to country music’s longstanding adulation for guys in boots, jeans and cowboy hats, this track centers on the scarred hearts that get left in the dust when a smooth-talking cowboy comes along and entices someone’s lover away. The track is from his upcoming album, I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell, out Feb. 10.
Old Dominion, “Memory Lane”
The group delves into nostalgia on their new release, which finds the protagonist musing that though his romantic entanglement is officially over, he would be satisfied to stay centered on memories of the couple’s high-mark moments. The song, written by the group’s Matt Ramsey, Brad Tursi and Trevor Rosen, alongside Jessie Jo Dillon, continues the lineage of mellow, pop-inflected songs, such as “Written in the Sand” and “One Man Band,” the band has become known for.
Tyler Hubbard, “Me for Me”
Hubbard’s solo career keeps building with songs like “Dancin’ in the Country,” “5 Foot 9” and his new release, “Me For Me.” Here, he puts forth an earnest song of gratefulness that he’s found a lover who appreciates him just the way he is, accepts his shortcomings and celebrates his strengths. Hubbard penned the track with Thomas Rhett and Russell Dickerson. The same trio previously released the stunning ballad “Death Row.”
Muscadine Bloodline, “Teenage Dixie”
Blistering harmonica, driving percussion and searing guitars elevate this jam band ode to short-lived teenage romance between ambitious girls and a small-town boys. “She was on a mission on her ticket out/ And I was stuck living in the state champ days,” they sing, in this well-crafted track that vibrates with energy as they relive their glory days. The song is the title track to a new album set for Feb. 24.
Jackson Dean, “Fearless (The Echo)”
Dean is one of a handful of newcomer male country acts breaking through at country radio in a big way, with Dean reaching No. 3 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with his song “Don’t Come Lookin’.” His latest, “Fearless,” he makes the most of his mighty, full-bodied voice and rock-infused style, with lyrics that espouse both bravado and vulnerability, as he repeatedly notes his eagerness to “jump off the ledges, burn all the bridges, walk on the edges,” in complete control–but when it comes to the one he loves, he knows he’s not the one holding the keys. A powerful followup track that has the potential to eclipse the success of his debut release.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time — Sampler
Morgan Wallen has released a three-song sampler as a teaser for the new music he’s been working on in the studio. One Thing at a Time — Sampler is made of the tracks “One Thing at a Time,” “Tennessee Fan,” and “Days That End in Why.” He’s at the top of the Billboard Country Airplay chart with “You Proof,” while another Wallen song, “I Thought You Should Know” is in the top 25 on the same chart. “One Thing at a Time” teems with shades of ’80s pop, as he declares he knows he should give up booze, pills, cigarettes and the memory of her, but he knows he’s only gonna “quit one thing at a time.” In “Tennessee Fan,” he revels in making a Tennessee fan out of an Alabama girl who was “raised Roll Tide.”
Jelly Roll, “She”
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Through singles like as “Son of a Sinner” and “Dead Man Walking,” Jelly Roll has crafted a slate of songs that affirm and uplift people struggling with addiction and temptation, who are looking for forgiveness and hope. His new song, which he’s a co-writer on, traces a young woman’s descent from “the life of the party” into a journey with pill addiction. His burly, everyman vocal approach rings with authenticity.
Adeem the Artist, White Trash Revelry
On this stellar album, the Tennessee-based, non-binary and pansexual artist blends classic country instrumentation with a rough-hewn voice and plainspoken, keen observations about the insidiousness of local politics (“We’re gonna run this town straight into the godd–n ground/ But we’re gonna run it,” they sing in the honky-tonk shuffle “Run This Town”), rising rents and overworked residents (alongside pedal steel in “Books & Records”), and the experience of shifting liberal perspectives in the South (the bluesy “Redneck, Unread Hicks,” with piercing lyrics about “Singing ‘Black Lives Matter’ to a Jimmie Rodgers melody,” and a backyard celebration with two wedding gowns). On “Middle of a Heart,” they sing about learning to “put a bullet through the middle of a heart,” first while learning to hunt, then sharing the passion of a first kiss, and later while in service to the military. The closer, “My America,” wrestles with the kind of country they will leave behind when they are gone.
Jenny Tolman, “It’s a Boy”
Tolman, known for plucky, quirky songs including “High Class White Trash” and the concept project There Goes the Neighborhood, wrote this track with co-writer Corey Wagar after finding out she and husband Dave Brainard were expecting a son. This sweet ode to motherhood takes familiar phrases that pepper songs about pining over a romantic crush and reinterprets them, in light of the joy of soon welcoming her son.
Parker McCollum, “Stoned”
In this moody track, Parker McCollum’s feeling misunderstood, alone and missing the one he used to hold — all reasons to find a way to numb the emotional pain. “Well, I know it’s not the answer but it’s all I know to do,” McCollum declares, his flawlessly rendered vocal capturing both urgency and resignation.
Lainey Wilson, “New Friends”
Wilson recently made her acting debut on season 5 of the hit TV series Yellowstone and performed this new song as part of the show. Her warm, intimate voice purrs on the soft acoustic track, which finds her longing for both a lost love and something to provide a distraction from the heartbreak. “New Friends” has been newly added to her excellent October album, Bell Bottom Country.
Shane Profitt, “Country Boys”
A rapid-fire beat under shimmering guitars sets the tone for Profitt’s listing of all the ways country boys will continue to be country boys — and the requisites to do so, including tins of Skoal, beer cans, Texaco, Walmart, Dollar General, hunting dogs, Zebcos, and deer in the woods. The song’s premise is nothing new, but Profitt sings it with gusto and exudes personality.
Muscadine Bloodline, “Made Her That Way”
Duo Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton earned a breakthrough with their raging “Dispatch to 16th Avenue” and hard-charging “Me on You.” They shift toward self-recriminating regret in their latest release, acknowledging the stubbornness that led to a fizzled relationship. This stripped-down song, written by Muncaster and Jordan Fletcher, proves to be another ace outing from this duo.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Dierks Bentley with Billy Strings, “High Note”
Dierks Bentley teams with arena-touring bluegrasser Billy Strings for this ode to the mood-elevating aspects of bluegrass and weed, while the airy production builds into an all-in jam session with the addition of bluegrass legends Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush and Bryan Sutton. The song is the first from Bentley’s upcoming album, set to arrive next year. Bentley, of course, is no stranger to the bluegrass/folk world, having released his own bluegrass-tinted album Up on the Ridge, in 2010.
Billy Strings, Me/And/Dad
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Strings has taken the bluegrass and Americana Music worlds by storm in recent years. Today, he releases Me/And/Dad, his first album with his father, Terry Barber. This 14-track mix of bluegrass and country classics the two have played together for years, including The Carter Family’s “The Wandering Boy,” George Jones’ “Life to Go,” and Doc Watson’s “Way Downtown.” Top-notch, wooly bluegrass picking wraps around distinct, family harmonies throughout the album.
Granger Smith, Moonrise
“Backroad Song” singer Smith is set to make his acting debut in the movie Moonrise on Dec. 15, but today he surprised fans today by dropping a 12-song album by the same name. Smith wrote or co-wrote every song on the album and every song will be featured in the movie. The songs contained here convey a range of life experiences, love and loss (“Something to Go On,” “Black Suit”) and the values his family is working to build (“This House”).
Nate Smith, “Wreckage”
Smith has been burning up Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart with his hard-charging song “Whiskey on You,” but with his latest, he proves he can just as deftly communicate a tender, vulnerable ballad. “When everyone else saw baggage/ you loved what no one could,” he sings. Smith will release his debut, self-titled album on Feb. 17.
Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, “Country Star”
Stuart and his fabulous band come with a full-throttle blast of power from the first note, and refuse to let up, as they detail a vivid portrait of fame and life on the road. The group’s superior body of work will be honored next week, when they are inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame on Nov. 22.
Jason Nix, “Happy Accidents”
Nix is known for his writing contributions to Lainey Wilson’s No. 1 Country Airplay hit “Things a Man Oughta Know,” but he proves he’s got a winning vocal of his own here. His sometimes-lover “lives on gin, coffee and compliments,” and he pledges that if she takes him back again, “I’ll take the place the lonely’s always been.” A sturdy outing from an ace singer-songwriter.
Ashley Cooke, “Running Back”
Ashley Cooke is missing the teenage romance she had with the high school running back, even years after the breakup. Written by Cooke and Emily Weisband, this cooly moody track vibrates with a sleek pop sheen.
Bri Bagwell, Red or Green
Bagwell collects a few previously-released holiday singles for this four-track EP, along with a previously unreleased acoustic cover of the Elvis Presley classic “Blue Christmas,” infusing it with her smooth, New Mexico twang. A worthy collection to get anyone into a more relaxed holiday mood.
Brian Kelley, “Florida Strong”
Kelley, a native of the Sunshine State, shows his support for those impacted by natural disasters, with all of the royalties being split between the American Red Cross and the Florida Disaster Fund to help support hurricane relief. Written by Kelley, with production by Kelley with Kaitlin Owen, the track sails along pleasantly, leading up to a spoken-word section with Kelley reciting words of resilience and hope.
Margo Price, “Lydia”
Price’s latest song champions a woman’s right to choose what is right for her own body, by unfurling — over the course of seven verses — the story, history, worries and choices of a woman who becomes pregnant and is unable to raise the child, while facing a lack of health insurance and living in a rundown part of town. She abandons the traditional chorus-verse-bridge-chorus song structure in favor of a freewheeling melody that keeps the focus solely on the storyline. Price wrote the song years before the overturning of Roe v. Wade and recorded it in 2021. The song will be included on her album Strays, out Jan. 13. This haunting, magnetic story makes for essential listening.
Zach Bryan, “The Greatest Day of My Life”
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“Years are just moments in a great big pile,” Bryan sings in this new release of a fan favorite. Continuing with his Red Dirt acoustic compositions, Bryan encapsulates with heartfelt gratitude the highs of life on and off the road, from having a sturdy band playing behind him, being a country boy fashioning a song in a New York high-rise, and having his faithful dog to always come home to. This prolific troubadour, who saw his American Heartbreak album debut at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart earlier this year, continues his hot streak with another keen-eyed chronicling of the world around him.
Brantley Gilbert feat. Blake Shelton and Vince Gill, “Heaven by Then”
Gilbert takes a break from testosterone-filled uptempo numbers to imagine a life without small-town values and ways on this acoustic-driven track. He’s accompanied by Shelton and Gill on vocals.
Written by Gilbert, Brock Berryhill, Michael Hardy, Jake Mitchell, Randy Montana, Hunter Phelps and Taylor Phillips, the somber song laments the ebbing of a rural way of life, envisioning a place where “number three is just a number and Hank is just a name/ When trucks don’t sound like thunder and nobody prays for rain.” A pleaser of a track for those who feel a certain way of life gets overlooked.
Jordan Davis, “Part of It”
Davis just picked up song of the year at the 56th annual CMA Awards this week, as a writer and artist on “Buy Dirt.” He follows with another song that also draws its lyrics from the concept of learning lessons in life and love from an older generation–whether that be a father showing him the way through a painful breakup or instilling a work ethic and love of the land. The production is smooth and again highlights Davis’ relatable vocal, while the song’s vibe has moments reminiscent of Eric Church’s 2018 hit, “Some of It.” Davis’s talent as both a vocalist and a writer has steadily deepened since his 2017 breakthrough “Singles You Up,” with this track being another testament.
Randy Houser, “Out and Down”
Houser knows he should be moping and downtrodden after a romantic breakup, but instead he sings, “I took it like a man and took it right down to the bar.” Written by Houser with Matt Rogers and Chris DeStefano, this slab of a Friday night uptempo rocker is a perfect vessel for Houser’s swaggering country vocals.
Emily Nenni, “Can Chaser”
Longtime Nashville resident Nenni, who has spent years performing at Music City haunts including Santa’s Pub and Robert’s Western World, just released her first album with Normaltown/New West Records, On the Ranch. She has vocal charm to spare on songs such as “Can Chaser,” a nod to female barrel racers, and the ’70s-twanging title track, a tribute to her time spent working on a ranch in Colorado. Her alliance with traditional country sounds soaks through every track on this album.
Six One Five Collective, “Kindness”
A teaming of artist-writers including Sarah Darling, Michael Logen and Nicole Witt team with Jamie Floyd for this encouraging track. Led by Logen’s warm vocals, the song leads listeners to think about the role they are playing in the world.
“We’re all slaying dragons, we think we’re on our own/ But everybody’s got a battle nobody knows,” they sing, using their luminous harmonies to encourage kindness and acceptance. An uplifting track needed during this day and time. The group’s upcoming EP, Coastin‘, arrives Nov. 18.
Nathaniel Rateliff, “You Asked Me To”
From Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver, the always soulful Rateliff offers a stellar job on this classic written by Shaver and Waylon Jennings, which originally appeared on Jennings’s 1973 album Honky Tonk Heroes and on Shaver’s 1977 album Gypsy Boy, with Willie Nelson (the Shaver rendition is in past tense, which Rateliff also does here). The sturdy torque of Rateliff’s vocals center the defiance and endless devotion of the lyrics, while the rollicking instrumentation retains the freewheeling heart of the original.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Lainey Wilson, “Hold My Halo”
This Louisiana native’s career is on fire right now. In addition to her new album, Bell Bottom Country, which drops today (Friday, Oct. 28), Wilson is the leading nominee heading into this year’s CMA Awards, earning six nods during her very first year as a nominee. Wilson co-wrote all but one track on this project, including her newest release, the frisky “Hold My Halo,” which raises a drink to the virtues of a hard-working woman who deserves a night to “tell that angel inside of me to hide her wings and lay low.”
Keith Urban, “Street Called Main”
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Urban’s new song, written by Chris LaCorte, Josh Miller and Scooter Carusoe, finds Urban returning to his musical homebase — melding drum loops, crisp electric guitar, and universally relatable lyrics. The song marks Urban’s latest release leading into an album he is prepping for next year.
Cheat Codes with Jimmie Allen, “Lose You”
Last year, dance trio Cheat Codes issued the country collaborations “Never Love You Again” with Little Big Town and Bryn Christopher, as well as “How Do You Love” with Lee Brice and Lindsay Ell. Earlier this year, they followed by announcing an upcoming country album and earning another country collab with Russell Dickerson on “I Remember.” Now, they team with genre-blurring country artist Jimmie Allen (himself known for a plethora of collaborations) for this romantic, slow-burn dance track.
Shania Twain, “Last Day of Summer”
The queen of country-pop will release her upcoming album, Queen of Me, in February 2023 and she’s been steadily giving fans an intro to the new project, first with the lead single “Waking Up Dreaming,” followed by this equally sunny, but slightly organic-sounding track. Her husky vocals are slightly muddied in the verses, but the echoy production gives this pondering of and yearning for a long-gone love an intimate, hazy quality.
Reyna Roberts, “Pretty Little Devils”
“This ain’t the same ol’ hoedown throwdown,” Roberts makes clear as she leans hard into her R&B, rock and country trap proclivities on this new track, meshing them with bluesy guitars and lyrics about beer cans, boondocks, Megan Thee Stallion, southern accents — all while still showcasing her versatile vocals. A promising track that builds on her previous works, such as “Stomping Grounds.”
Runaway June, “Broken Hearts (Do Broken Things)”
On their latest, this trio retains their cheery pop-country vibe, but delves deep into the not-so rational decisions one makes when their heart is splintered after a breakup. This feisty track also highlights the trio’s new lineup, which is founding member Jennifer Wayne, in addition to Natalie Stovall and the newest member, Stevie Woodward.
Julie Roberts, Ain’t in No Hurry
Singer-songwriter Julie Roberts first broke through in 2004 with the ballad “Break Down Here.” Now, she returns with her first album in nearly a decade on Ain’t in No Hurry, this time working with Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon Jennings) and Erin Enderlin to craft the album. Known for her bluesy vocals, Julie also teams up with two top male country vocalists — she welcomes Jamey Johnson on the song “Music City is Killing Me,” a slight twist on Ray LaMontagne’s “New York City’s Killing Me,” while Randy Houser makes an appearance on “A Little Crazy’s Kinda Nice.”
Mae Estes, “Die in a Bar”
When it’s Mae Estes’ time to go, she wants to go out on her own terms — and as she sings here, that means flying away on a whiskey river, with a beer in her hand. This coolly country, retro-tinged track, which instantly brings to mind the Joe Diffie classic “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die),” makes the most of Mae’s twangy voice, alongside twisted guitar lines and grooves ready for a sawdust floor.
First Country is a compilation of the best new country songs, videos & albums that dropped this week.
Thomas Rhett, Merry Christmas Y’all
Thomas Rhett is already feeling festive, with the release of his first holiday project. The polished four-song EP finds the singer-songwriter bringing his warm, relaxed sound to classics including “Winter Wonderland” (bolstered with sleek horns and soft percussion) and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
Scotty McCreery, “Small Town Story”
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McCreery’s latest continues in his winning arc of songs pulled from chapters of his own life, chronicling his own small town story, from learning guitar and playing sports, getting his first truck and falling in love. The song will be included on his upcoming deluxe version of his album Same Truck, out Nov. 18.
Tanya Tucker, “Ready as I’ll Never Be”
In 2020, Tanya Tucker experienced a career resurgence when her album While I’m Livin’ and song “Bring My Flowers Now” earned Tucker her first Grammy wins, nearly 50 years after she got her start in the industry. Today, the documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker (Featuring Brandi Carlile) releases in select theaters and chronicles the making of the project. The doc also includes this new track, which matches Tucker’s wisdom-filled, life-weathered voice with lyrics of life, nostalgia and moving on.
Tyler Hubbard, “I’m the Only One” (Video)
A newly minted solo artist, Hubbard highlights his comedic and acting skills in this new music video. He works at an upscale clothing store, and when the shop closes, it’s time to cut up and have fun. The clip is a lighthearted complement for this jovial love song, which will be included on Hubbard’s upcoming debut solo album, which releases in January 2023.
HunterGirl, “Hometown Out of Me”
Former American Idol contestant HunterGirl makes her debut release following her time on the show, with her first release for 19 Recordings/BMG. On her first post-show song, she makes sure fans know she hasn’t left her Winchester, Tennessee roots. She wrote the song with Laura Veltz and Jimmy Robbins, and the lyrics nod to the small town as the reason for her fearlessness (“Maybe you ain’t scared of crashing/ When you got a place to land”). The sweetly sentimental song is a perfect foil for her likable, girl next door-made-good persona and strong voice, and a pleasant pop/country outing that chronicles her current moment of transcending from talented aspiring artist, to make her first steps toward the big leagues.
Jessie James Decker with Billy Currington, “I Still Love You”
Decker and Currington reunite for another duet, following the song “Good Night,” which was featured on Currington’s 2015 album, Summer Forever. “I Still Love You” centers on a couple that falls apart, only for each to discover they are better together. Sonically, the song falls neatly into Currington’s slow-groove, R&B-tinged wheelhouse and gives Decker space to let loose on some soulful vocal runs. While it would never be mistaken for Currington’s 2004 duet with Shania Twain on the boppy “Party for Two,” it does further showcase the influence Twain’s career has had on Decker.
Greylan James, “Old Truck Young Love”
This laid-back, radio-ready track is the latest release from singer-songwriter Greylan James, known as a writer on Kenny Chesney’s “Happy Does,” among other songs. Here, he continues to show his knack as both an artist as well as a writer, on a track he wrote with Jessi Alexander, Ben Hayslip, and NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler.
Noah Thompson, “Make You Rich”
Thompson draws on his Kentucky roots and past career as a construction worker, as he passes on lessons he’s learned along the way, like valuing family and friends over materialistic things, and being a person of character. “A man is measured by more than a treasure stacked up in a bank,” he sings, adding, “Be a better man than your old man was.” A promising release from this former American Idol winner.