2018 Saving Country Music Song of the Year Nominees
A Saving Country Music Song of the Year candidate is not just your favorite ditty that gets stuck in your head. These are songs that change hearts, change lives, rest in your head for years to come, open up new ideas, or unlock memories or emotions you haven’t felt in years. Song of the Year nominees are the reason you’re a music fan.
Similar to how it was a strong year for Album of the Year candidates, so it is for Song of the Year nominees. More specifically, there are a lot of songs that are represented from artists who reside in the mainstream, even if they’re not mainstream songs. In fact the 2018 Song of the Year nominees list is probably the most mainstream assemblage of music ever highlighted at Saving Country Music. This isn’t to court a certain audience, it’s just the circumstance’s of this year’s field. It should be taken as a positive toward the effort to return meaning and substance to all sectors of country music.
The field is strong, and the choices are difficult. But as always, this isn’t just a decision for Saving Country Music. Your input is strongly encouraged, though please understand this is not just an up or down vote. It’s your job to convince the rest of us why a certain song should be considered over the others.
And just because something isn’t listed in the field of candidates or in the Honorable Mention category doesn’t mean it’s not qualified. Picking songs is always more personal than albums. We’re not looking to pit songs and songwriters against each other, we’re looking to combine our collective perspectives and opinions into a pool of musical knowledge for the benefit of all.
So without further ado, here are the nominees for Saving Country Music’s Song of the Year. You can also listen to all the nominees and honorable mentions on the Spotify Playlist, or in the Spotify player below.
Ervin Stellar – “My Way”
Normally the Song of the Year distinction is reserved for those songs that really bear down on heartbreak, or reveal something about the human condition in a novel way that reverberates beyond simple words and music. Though this remains the standard requirements, it would feel scandalous not to mention this song by Ervin Stellar in a discussion about the best songs of 2018. One of the many country artists from Brooklyn, NY that’s helping to set the pace for quality in independent country at the moment, he captures vintage twang goodness in “My Way” rarely heard in the modern context.
Not to downplay the songwriting, but the sheer quality of the listening experience of “My Way” is something worthy of national and international recognition. That’s the reason that even as a relatively unknown, the song has received some 85,000 spins on Spotify and counting. In past eras, a song like this would work its way up the food chain and become a hit. Unfortunately that’s unlikely to happen, but we can single it out from the herd and shine a big spotlight on it to help spread the listening enjoyment.
Cody Jinks – “Head Case”
It’s the love songs and sad songs that our favorite artists pen that make them feel personal to us. But it’s often the songs artists compose solely about themselves and their rare experience as performers when they expose their best work. We may not be able to identify with the emptiness they often feel inside after they exit the stage, or wrestle with the demons they face trying to live a private life in the public spotlight. But the sincerity they share in these lines still comes across as palpable and powerful, and the poetry of “Head Case” by Cody Jinks is a perfect example.
To many on the outside, Cody Jinks might just be another bearded dude who sounds like Waylon. But to his devoted fans, they know about the depth with which he brings to his songs, and possibly none as deeper and richer than “Head Case.” And not to be outclassed, the production and music of the song from the early cello and folk style guitar set the mood that makes this so much more than an Outlaw hillbilly anthem. It might be Cody’s best song yet.
Pistol Annies – “Cheyenne”
Composing characters that feel exceptionally real in the span of the 3 or 4 quick minutes of a song to the point where you can feel their presence like a personal connection is one of the most cunning feats of songcraft, and one that the Pistol Annies pull off deftly in “Cheyenne.” It starts off from the perspective of envy, with the narrator observing a skilled love predator with the way they can work a room without getting caught up in their own web, or pierced by their own venom. But beneath the surface is a deeper story of sadness or loss that made Cheyenne so cold. We both fear and envy Cheyenne, because she lives in that abyss that bisects love and loneliness, never being tied down, but never finding resolution. And she also lives inside all of us in one capacity or another.
Caitlyn Smith – “This Town Is Killing Me”
It’s an exercise in learning how to live with injustice to be a music fan in the modern context, and especially a country music fan. There isn’t a truly talented artist out there that is not burdened by an inequitable amount of obscurity to some degree, but nobody can make a grander case for the discrepancy between their talent and the level of their acclaim like Caitlyn Smith. With the hits she’s penned and the voice she possesses, she should be nothing short of a superstar, and instead she remains a creature of relative obscurity due to the oligarchical system in place on Music Row.
“This Town Is Killing Me” is about this very travesty, but like every great song, it rises to be about all of our struggles to attain our dreams amid insurmountable odds. And making this injustice that much more biting, this song has been streamed nearly 5 million times on Spotify alone. It is a massive hit just sitting there to be discovered, yet it is the farthest thing from the viewshed of radio or award shows.
Caitlyn Smith is the greatest undiscovered talent of our current era, and “This Town Is Killing Me” is her grandest achievement up to this point.
Lori McKenna – “People Get Old”
If there’s any hope for the future of mainstream country music, it lies in songwriters like Lori McKenna. Whenever you see a quality song from a major label country artist, it’s uncanny how often Lori McKenna’s name comes up in the songwriting credits. That was the case for Tim McGraw’s award-winning version of “Humble and Kind,” and dozens of other McKenna-penned tracks, including tracks she’s written with her cadre of fellow composers Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose, also known as The Love Junkies.
Mother of five Lori McKenna from Stoughton, Massachusetts is saving country music. You no longer have any legitimate license to say, “Oh, I’ve heard the name. Isn’t she a songwriter or something?” and consider yourself and enlightened music fan. Brushing Lori McKenna off is brushing off one of the greatest living songwriters of our generation, right up there with whatever field of heavyweights you want to amass as challengers or contemporaries. Just as we mourn the loss of songwriters gone by and wonder aloud who will ever be capable of filling their shoes, future generations will say the same of Lori McKenna.
Randall King – “When He Knows Me”
With the same deft accuracy and studious understanding other country artists have evoked certain eras in the modern context, Randall King comes out swinging and fleetly re-imagines 90’s country with one sharp song after another. Some of the terminology and subject matter might be a little more tweaked to modern sensibilities, but the music is authentic, and you keep having to check the liner notes, telling yourself this must be a song you heard before from Alan Jackson, or John Anderson.
A favorite that has emerged off the new album is the touching “When He Knows Me” about dealing with the memory loss of a loved one that so many people have to suffer through as parents and grandparents age. Very specifically about Randall’s grandfather, the personal nature of the song comes through in the writing and performance, and may lubricate a few eyes.
Kacey Musgraves – “Space Cowboy”
Songwriters: Kacey Musgraves Luke Laird, Shane McAnally
Kacey’s signature use of double entendre, which at other times has been rendered tired and trite through its prevalence in her music, is employed here in spectacular fashion. It’s then paired with superior, ethereal production, that may have hampered her latest record Golden Hour as a whole, but allows “Space Cowboy” to positively soar.
The heartache of being left behind is brilliantly captured here, along with the sincere aching in Musgraves’ voice to make “Space Cowboy” bigger than any year, album, or artist. In an ideal world, “Space Cowboy” is what modern country pop would be. It’s a stain, and an embarrassment on the country music industry that the powers that be have rendered this marvelous track simply a cut on a critically-acclaimed record for hipsters to enjoy instead of what America is listening to.
American Aquarium – “One Day At A Time”
What shakes us to our core in the greatest of songs is their ability to speak right to us in a way that seems to know who we are, and our whole life’s story with uncanny accuracy and understanding, ultimately allowing acute emotions to well up in even the most steeled of hearts. Even though “One Day At A Time” expends many of its verses talking shop of the life of a songwriter and musician, American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham makes us all feel his emotions like they’re our own. If not the best song so far in 2018, it very well might have the best line, “Songs fulfill a human need, to sit back and watch another man bleed, so for a moment we don’t have to feel sorry for ourselves.”
No other line better explains the importance of shining a spotlight on songs that can touch people’s lives like “One Day At Time.” With this song, BJ Barham announces his candidacy for inclusion with the very top songwriters of this generation.
John Prine – “Summer’s End”
John Prine was one of the greatest songwriters dead or alive before he released his first record of original songs in 13 years in The Tree of Forgiveness. His wordsmithing is other-worldly, while remaining whimsical enough to feel effortless. “Summer’s End” does not wow you with some incredible turns of phrase or keen insight into life like so many Prine songs have done for decades. With this one, he envelops you in memory from his deft use of simplicity of story, and a timeless melody. John Prine and “Summer’s End” sound like your very fondest memory, as clear in the mind as it was in the minutes after the original moments passed.
Jamie Lin Wilson – “Death & Life”
“Death & Life” is nothing short of songwriting mastery, slaying all who listen with open hearts, feeling less like a country roots song, and more like some Eastern poem that unlocks the inalienable truths of life in a breathtaking efficiency of ink strokes on parchment.
Creating sermons about the cycles of life is at the very kernel of American roots music. This is the reason “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” is often given credit for being the first country song, and the reason these words ring the rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Jamie Lin Wilson hasn’t just re-imagined these eternal truths in yet another song, she’s forged them into a new axiom, both fresh and timeless.
Kenny Chesney – “Better Boat”
Songwriters: Travis Meadows, Liz Rose
Nearly everything about “Better Boat” is right. The songwriters Travis Meadows and Liz Rose are right. The entirety of the instrumentation being performed by Mac McAnally on an acoustic guitar is right. Kenny choosing songwriter Mindy Smith to perform the song with instead of some pop star is right. The mood and production is right. And most importantly, the song is right. Remember, in 2010 Kenny Chesney covered Guy Clark’s “Hemingway’s Whiskey” and made it the title track to his album. We know the guy is a fan of quality songwriting—when he’s allowed to show it. He showed it selecting John Baumann’s “Gulf Moon,” and he shows it again with “Better Boat.”
This is the type of song that doesn’t get written, certainly doesn’t get cut, and most definitely doesn’t get recorded and released by a major label artist like Kenny Chesney in Nashville these days. Or if it does, they figure out a way to screw it all up by adding an electronic drum beat or something else unclean to country music, sullying the appeal for more distinguished listeners. It’s by God poetic and wise, yet with an effective and easy-to-digest lyrical hook. It reminds you less of Kenny Chesney, and more of Lyle Lovett. It’s about self-improvement, evaluation, and reflection. This is the heady stuff usually left off of mainstream albums as not to alienate audiences. But with “Better Boat,” they didn’t. They released it as a single.
Honorable Mention:
- Trixie Mattel – “Red Side of the Moon”
- Brandon Jenkins – “Fade to Black”
- Dakota Jay – “Don’t Come To Nashville”
- Brandi Carlile – “The Joke”
- Kyla Ray and Colton Hawkins – “Once A Week Cheaters” (written by Keith Whitley)
- Kacey Musgraves – “Rainbow”
- Courtney Patton – “What It’s Like to Fly Alone (Hawk Song)”
- Ward Davis – “Good and Drunk”
- Kristina Murray – “Slow Kill”
- Pistol Annies – “Best Years Of My Life”
- William Clark Green – “Poor”
- Whitey Morgan and the 78’s – “Around Here”
- Jay Bragg – “The Dreamer”
- Any song from Courtney Marie Andrews’ May Your Kindness Remain
- Any song from Jason Eady’s I Travel On
December 6, 2018 @ 9:23 am
Out of those listed I would say Head Case is my favorite and should win going away.
I would also have listed either Monsters or Drowning Man from Eric Church. Drowning man is a fairly simple song but sometimes that’s what makes a song great. It’s message is spot on.
December 6, 2018 @ 3:38 pm
Drowning Man and Head Case are my top two for sure. Drowning Man is easily the most relevant song to be released in 2018, about the rest of us who aren’t caught up in the BS but just want to return to some simplicity.
As a whole, the Desperate Man album is a stellar release. It won’t receive enough attention because it’s too Americana/rock for mainstream country outlets, and EC is a “mainstream” artist who on a matter of principle wouldn’t win awards from SCM without a revolt from the purists.
December 7, 2018 @ 4:04 am
Exactly. And while I can understand the omission of drowning man based on its simplicity (although again that’s what makes it awesome), Trigger himself said the songwriting in “Monsters” was “excellent”. I think there should be a recount.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:24 am
No surprise Space Cowboy gets my vote from the lyrics to the production and delivery it’s superb.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:30 am
Nice list of songs. For me this is easy. John Prine – Summer’s End. Just so strong and beautiful.
December 6, 2018 @ 8:06 pm
This is also my vote for song of the year. To see John Prine return with such a stronge record should give many other artists encouragement to do the same, no matter their age.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:32 am
And the award goes to …
Lori McKenna for “People Get Old”!
December 6, 2018 @ 1:41 pm
This song just kills me every time I listen to it. Lori is a phenomenal writer.
December 6, 2018 @ 5:29 pm
I think I would have gone with “Like Patsy Would”. Hell, the whole album is great though. Love “Happy People” too.
December 6, 2018 @ 7:39 pm
For me as well….
Summers End a close second and everything else on this list is great. Lori is just the shit though.
December 12, 2018 @ 4:19 pm
Wished I stopped by here more often. I don’t know if anyone will read this but if there is a timeless song on this list it’s “People get old”. I mean it will still have relevancy twenty years from now as time never stops, and people will still be getting old.
“I sat up right beside him in the cabin of that truck
Goin’ thirty miles-an-hour down a side road talkin’ ’bout the fish we caught
And I’m older now than he was then
If I could go back in time, I would in a second”
December 6, 2018 @ 9:37 am
Great list, I also reeeeeally like “Towns Coming to Me” by James Steinle. Great song and a great music video to go along with it.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:38 am
I think Better Boat. It is an unbelievable song and to make the impact it has in the mainstream is amazing.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:39 am
I absolutely have to give my vote to Better Boat. The message of the song is relevant to pretty much every person in the world. The instrumentation smoothly shifts from haunting from hopeful, and delivers a prime exhibition of Mac McAnally’s talent with a nylon-stringed guitar, something that is rarely heard in music in general today. Most of all, Better Boat gives me hope for mainstream country music, that the emerging artists will look to someone like Kenny Chesney who isn’t afraid to take a chance on something that may not fit with what’s “cool” on the radio, but instead will choose to write, record, and release songs that have a meaning and a purpose.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:51 am
It reminds me of classic Jimmy Buffett before he got shitty and generic.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:41 am
“Space Cowboy” for me (though it’s not my favourite song on Golden Hour). Stoked to see “Red Side of the Moon” mentioned, would have loved it if Mike and the Moonpies’ “Steak Night at the Prairie Rose” and Brothers Osborne’s “I Don’t Remember Me” had been nominated.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:43 am
1. Head Case
2. Death & Live
3. One Day at a Time
Honorable Mention: Strung Out, Lights of the City, How it Feels in the Light by John R. Miller. Easily my favorite album of the year.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:52 am
Summer’s End for sure from the list.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:59 am
What do I do with “Charleston Girl” and “Shake the Frost”? I first heard them in concert in March. Then they got a proper release on those Barn Radio EPs. However, I reckon they will get on a album at sometime.
I was thinking of you last night, Trig. I got tossed from the Steve Earle concert 4 songs into his set for throwing my hat on the stage. It reminded me of your Hank III/ sandwich story.
If you can’t throw your hat on the stage in support of an anti gun stance anyone, I feel the whole concert experience has passed me by and I best sit at home.
December 6, 2018 @ 12:24 pm
Those songs are excellent but they’re far from new, they’re many years old
December 6, 2018 @ 5:41 pm
Something tells me you’re quite the rowdy concert goer, hoptown. You have quite a few harrowing tales from your concert treks.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:59 am
Definitely “Summer’s End” by Prine for me.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:59 am
Randall King’s “When He Knows Me” gets my vote. It is such an amazing song. If you’ve ever had the chance to see him perform it live, you will understand it so much more. The raw emotion this song evokes makes me tear up every time I hear it. There is no denying the meaning behind this song. Sweet and heartbreaking all at the same time. Such a wonderful tribute by Randall King.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:07 am
Randall King gets my vote.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:09 am
1. Better Boat- probably the best album Chesney has done in about a decade or so, his heart was in this album and he chose a song that summed up not only his feelings for the aftermath of the hurricane, but thos impacted as well. To top it off he released this as a single. It’s a great song
2. Caitlyn Smith “this town is killing me” because its a singer’s song about the struggle being rejected by Nashville and more relevant when you consider where women are in mainstream country at this moment. There’s heartache and I love it
3. Jamie Lin Wilson “death and life” very good song and story and man it moves you, especially the lines about it being 3 years from the death of her husband but she still feels like a wife.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:09 am
Where is Beaches of Biloxi? Mike and the Moonpies nailed it with that one. A song that moves along faster than 20 beats per minute and doesn’t make you want to hang yourself at the end of it can still be considered great.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:33 am
Since Spotify just told me that its the song I listened to most in 2018 I have to go with Steak Night at the Prairie Rose as song of the year. Great linear story with fantastic steel guitar work. Beaches of Biloxi is great too for the reasons you mentioned. I could make a case for several songs off that album.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:10 am
Headcase because he’s Cody “effing” Jinks.
December 7, 2018 @ 9:26 am
Haha my brother and i went to a Jinks show a few months back and on the way out we found 2 t shirts on the ground and we both kept one. Mine says Cody Effin Jinks
December 6, 2018 @ 10:14 am
I understand this is incredibly difficult to narrow down, that said I am surprised not to see Jason Boland and the Stragglers “Hard Times Are Relative” not included on here. Also think Tom Buller “She Lets Me Run” is a pretty stellar song worthy of mention.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:18 am
Of the songs on the list, Around Here by Whitey Morgan and the 78’s. If I can pick any song I would say Natural Disaster by Dillon Carmichael
December 6, 2018 @ 7:39 pm
“natural disaster” would’ve been my pick as well, until I heard “good & drunk.” hell on an angel is still album of the year for me though
December 6, 2018 @ 10:25 am
My favorite is “Steak Night At The Prairie Rose” and I’ll stand behind the song even stronger than the album.
From the one’s you listed Lori McKenna gets my vote with probably Caitlyn Smith and Randall King next. Caitlyn Smith truly is a diverse talent. She can write a song as wonderful as this and then also release what is probably my most fun song of 2018 in “Contact High”. Would love to see her live sometime.
All good choices although I haven’t heard of Ervin Stellar which I will be fixing shortly
December 6, 2018 @ 10:29 am
How did u make this list without Tyler Childers?
December 6, 2018 @ 10:35 am
Tyler Childers released “Purgatory” in 2017. He released it in August of 2017, so it wasn’t even a late-year release. “Purgatory” was also named Saving Country Music’s 2017 Album of the Year.
Don’t mean to jump your butt about it Brian, because I’ve seen numerous people not just tongue lashing Saving Country Music, but other sites for excluding it from their lists. Farce The Music just made a joke about it yesterday in one of their posts. Not sure why there’s so much confusion on this issue, but Tyler Childers received his full due, and will probably receive more when he releases a new album (likely) next year.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:38 am
One Day at a Time.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:39 am
God help me, but it has to be Kenny, Better Boat. Mostly because Travis Meadows is a badass songwriter.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:40 am
She Ain’t In It – Pardi
From your list… Better Boat.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:47 am
That Jon Pardi song came out in 2016…keep up with us Arnold.
December 6, 2018 @ 2:02 pm
It was a single in 2018. Not sure of the qualifications.
December 6, 2018 @ 5:41 pm
Technically a single is a single in perpetuity. The criteria is when the single was released. The single has to have been released in 2018.
December 6, 2018 @ 6:32 pm
Wow, didn’t know you were part of Trigger’s Board of Directors Committee regarding this made up nominations and online award show…. Congrats Seth!!
Look at Body Like A Backroad.. Nominated twice for CMA single of the year..
December 6, 2018 @ 1:56 pm
What the hell Arnold? I thought you had left us. I can’t take anymore of this game of tug-of-war you’re playing with my heart.
December 7, 2018 @ 8:47 am
LOL……..I know everyone rags on Arnold but cut him a little slack as he’s just a kid (what’d you say Arnold 22?) I think his heart is in the right place and he can be trained (good job Sarah and Seth) He’ll eventually acclimate himself into the site and be a mature/worthy poster. My early posts were just as cringe worthy looking back and I’m 58!! We need all ages and yes….even viewpoints to balance out old crusty fucks like me. I love Pardi and that song as much as you Arnold but it’s old.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:42 am
Not sure you would consider a live performance of previously released song as a candidate but Last of My Kind off Jason Isbell’s Live from the Ryman is one I have listened to quite a bit since its release. Its one of the few from that live album that did not have quality issues and seems light years more emotional and meaningful than the studio cut. I love listening to Sadler and Amanda go back and forth for 3.5 minutes, it really brings out the haunting acoustics of the Ryman.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:56 am
Those Brooklyn boys have it all nailed down and rocking. Stellar’s voice isn’t obviously remarkable, but that group of musicians is first-rate.
December 6, 2018 @ 10:57 am
I have no idea how you’re going to pick. A strong case can be made for each, except that for whatever reason I’m not that into “Space Cowboy.” I’d probably go with Lori McKenna’s, Randall King’s, or Jamie Lin Wilson’s — interestingly, all having to do with end of life matters. King’s “When He Knows Me” is the one I’ve listened to the most times and reminds me of William Michael Morgan’s “I Know Who He Is,” also the best song on that album.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:03 am
Randal King when He Knows Me gets my vote
Personal favorite song this year not on the list was Garrett Bryan’s “Deon Delray and Daddy”
December 6, 2018 @ 11:12 am
Just read that Duff McKagen (bassist of GnR) is having his solo album produced by Shooter Jennings. Wonder what that’ll sound like??
December 6, 2018 @ 5:43 pm
If shooter’s talents are the make or break factor, the album will be shit.
December 8, 2018 @ 12:11 pm
Brandi Carlile’s is nominated for 6 Grammy awards for her album/songs that were co-produced by Shooter. Just sayin’.
December 7, 2018 @ 12:03 am
Jesse Dayton is going to be playing on that record. Check that dude’s resume out. I have high hopes on it based on his contribution alone.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:16 am
My ranking
When He Knows Me
Cheyenne
Summer’s End
Better Boat
Death & Life
One Day At A Time
Head Case
This Town Is Killing Me
People Get Old
My Way
Space Cowboy
December 6, 2018 @ 11:18 am
Sorry to get off topic, but are people looking forward to watching Americanafest on CMT tonight?
Trigger will you be doing a review?
December 6, 2018 @ 5:45 pm
I don’t have CMT, so I won’t be watching. I was there live in September and posted a report then:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/jason-isbell-has-big-2018-americana-music-awards/
I honestly think that PBS and Austin City Limits is a much better home for the Americana Awards. With so many cord cutters, especially with younger people, it just makes it that much less inaccessible, and Americana is not the CMT demographic.
That said, I hope everyone who can see it enjoys the presentation.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:23 am
Very strong list of songs. Head Case is song of the year in my opinion. It was the best song off of a fantastic album that I keep coming back to.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:23 am
“One Day at a Time” gets my vote. One of the best albums of the year too.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:34 am
Note: I’m definitely not a sound engineer, so I don’t give a rat’s ass how the song was produced. For me it’s all about the song itself, with extra weight on the writing.
2 songs I’ll suggest as nominees:
– Whitey Morgan & the 78s (written by Don Dupree): What Am I Supposed to Do
— GM just announced another 15k layoff. This is a real country song about the real lives of real people across multiple generations in real America. It’s smart and timely, and its message desperately needs to be heard. And somebody needs to do something.
– Sarah Shook: New Ways to Fail
— It frustrates me that SOTY lists are almost entirely a compilation of tearjerkers. Crying isn’t the only reaction a song can bring on, so we shouldn’t limit our choices based on a sliver of the emotional spectrum. Sarah manages to bring out multiple emotive responses in this one, and it’s easily my #1 play-it-again song of 2018. (Play-it-again is when I hit repeat in the car, sometimes 4 or 5 times, each time proclaiming “we better play that one again”, while all my passengers eye-roll and groan.)
Of the songs in the list, 2 stand head and shoulders above the rest for me:
– Kacey Musgraves: Space Cowboy
— I’d forgotten about this one, since I wasn’t really a fan of the album as a whole. It hit me hard just now. Fantastic song, done up to near perfection.
– John Prine: Summer’s End
— If this award is about the SONG, this is it. This silly old man is a grandmaster of songwriting. Nobody else mentioned can touch him as a lyricist. This one stands up there with his best, and that should mean something.
Next I’d put Lori McKenna: People Get Old, and then the rest below that.
Head Case is just an average Cody Jinks song IMO. Does not measure up at all to Hippies & Cowboys, I’m Not the Devil, or his greatest, David. Like the song, but not SOTY material IMO.
The more I listen to Randall King, the more he sounds like early Kenny Chesney than Alan Jackson. I don’t hear that class of ’89 sound, it’s more like the less inspiring late 90s sound. Again, I do like the song, but not SOTY material for me.
December 6, 2018 @ 3:06 pm
I’m glad you highlighted Whitey’s “What Am I Supposed to Do.” That is my favorite song on the album, and it may even be my favorite Whitey Morgan song of all. It perfectly captures everything that Whitey is about and what country music is about.
December 6, 2018 @ 3:22 pm
“What I am Supposed to Do?” would be my pick, too, but I’m not sure if it’s eligible since it was originally released in 2011 by Detroit-based Doop & The Inside Outlaws.
December 6, 2018 @ 5:48 pm
I would think it qualifies. It’s not called Original Song of the Year.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:36 am
Randall King – “When He Knows Me”
My Nominees For Song Of The Year:
Tim Culpepper – “Drove Her Away”
Ronnie Eaton – “Sleeping In Hell”
The Black Lillies – “Joy & Misery”
Brian Grilli – “River Of Whiskey”
Homegrown – “People Change”
Beccy Cole – “Lioness”
Kristy Cox – “Right Where You Left It”
Whitey Morgan & The 78’s – “Around Here”
Liam Kennedy-Clark – “Tails You Say The Same”
Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart – “Mountain Of Pain”
Aleyce Simmonds feat. Lachlan Bryan – “Heart You Saved”
The Western Distributors – “The Man Who Stole The Blues”
Darin Jones & The Last Men Standing – “Feels Like Coming Home”
The Sweet Jelly Rolls – “I Guess Those Country Songs Are Finally Getting To Me”
Travis Collins – “High Horse”
Tori Forsyth – “Kings Horses”
Kolby Cooper – “Take It From Hank”
Kirsty Lee Akers – “Chasing Ghosts”
Terri Clark – “Cowboys In This Town”
Marie Wise-Hawkins – “Pickup Truck”
Gareth Leach – “Turn Back Jimmy Creek”
Marc Lucas – “The Ghost Of Lost Creek Road”
Best New Artist Of The Year: Randall King
Best Australian Song Of The Year: Travis Collins – “High Horse”
Best Bluegrass Song Of The Year: Kristy Cox – “Right Where You Left It”
Most Played Song Of The Year: Kirsty Lee Akers – “Chasing Ghosts”
Most Played ReCurrent/Country Gold Song Of The Year: Trick Pony – “Every Other Memory”
December 6, 2018 @ 12:36 pm
It Ain’t Me by Kolby Cooper is probably my most played song all year. That Kolby Cooper EP really was great.
You should check out Garrett Bryan though his album this year was amazing. Figured you might want to check something else out since you are always posting so much music you might not of heard it yet and it was great.
December 6, 2018 @ 4:11 pm
Garrett Bryan…new name. Will listen to his songs as soon as possible.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:44 am
“A Saving Country Music Song of the Year candidate is not just your favorite diddy that gets stuck in your head. These are songs that change hearts, change lives, rest in your head for years to come, open up new ideas, or unlock memories or emotions you haven’t felt in years.”
I totally understand this, it’s one of the reasons I routinely point to “and the band played waltzing matilda” as a great example of high songwriting/singing, and one of the reasons that Slaid Cleaves “Ghost in the Car Radio” is one of my most played albums.
But I listened to each of these, and I can’t help but feel
A: some of these are lacking in melody, for instance, “Cheyenne” and “Better Boat.”
“This town is killing me” is a great song, sung well, but it can be a drag to sit through at the same time.
And a lot of these songs, both melodically and production-wise, represent all the ills of the greater “Americana” genre.
The songwriting is all top notch here, but I think a lot of these tunes forget to be fun while they’re at it.
introspection is great, but a killer melody sends it home.
Cody Jinks’ head case is easily the most “listenable” in that sense.
and also
B. none of these are true “stone cold honest to Jesus” country music.
not that everything has to have a shuffle and a steel, but a lot of these border into that space-age-y Americana singer-songwriter vein.
My pick?
Joshua Hedley’s “I never shed a tear”
It has an absolutely kick-ass melody, some truly high-end Country instrumentation, and while lyrically it’s a little underwhelming compared to this list, it has a future being performed in every karaoke bar and campfire and therefore will reach a lot more people.
And here’s a link to “and the band played waltzing matilda.” long song, but easily the greatest ballad ever done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCekeoSTwg
December 6, 2018 @ 11:48 am
1.) Head Case
2.) Good & Drunk
3.) Death & Life
December 6, 2018 @ 12:14 pm
Wow, seriously difficult choice. “Space Cowboy” is one of my favorite Musgrave songs. It’s simply beautiful with heartbreaking lyrics. Cody Jinks’ “Head Case” is equally strong, excellently showcasing his songwriting and vocal skills.
But my vote comes down to a hard choice between Pistol Annies and Caitlyn Smith. Either pick will leave me kicking myself for not choosing the other. Both deliver standout storytelling and composition, with gorgeous vocals and production. I considered flipping a coin, but my gut says to cast my vote for “Cheyenne”.
And let the kicking begin..
December 8, 2018 @ 8:49 pm
Cheyenne also gets my vote! “She finds plenty of pool table cowboys to hold her” gives me chills.
December 6, 2018 @ 12:20 pm
My choice is ‘Summer’s End’ by John Prine. Pure perfection.
December 6, 2018 @ 12:49 pm
From the list, I go with John Prine.
Well you never know how far from home you’re feelin’
Until you’ve watched the shadows cross the ceilin’
just so Prine!
December 8, 2018 @ 8:34 pm
My favorite line is: “The moon and stars hang out in bars … just talkin'”
December 6, 2018 @ 12:51 pm
Not going to lie, not familiar with a couple of these but my #1 would be “One day at a time”. The first take of the song is the version they used on the album, recorded without BJ’s knowledge. Powerful songwriting by an artist that has wrestled with alcoholism, found sobriety, and came out the other side stronger.
December 6, 2018 @ 12:54 pm
My Way is just a perfect song in every way. Production, instrumentation, lyrics, composition. The entire record is great. And of all the songs you listed, My Way and Space Cowboy are the two truly original, ‘Artist at the Height of Unique Mastery’ songs. Thank you for turning me on to Ervin Stellar. Great, great stuff.
December 6, 2018 @ 1:01 pm
Oh gosh, Head Case for sure! “I’ll scream out to the sun, and to the moon, and to the stars, I’ll scream until my voice finds you, no matter where you are..” ????
December 6, 2018 @ 1:31 pm
Best song of the Year is Lori McKenna’s People Get Old. The detail in the writing makes the listener feel like they are directly present in the memories, while simultaneously providing a broader perspective on aging with lines like “I’m older now than he was then” or “one day you find yourself saying the things they said”. Absolute masterpiece.
My other picks:
Cody Jinks – Somewhere Between I Love You and I’m Leaving
Ashley McBryde – The Jacket
Montgomery Gentry – Feet Back on the Ground
Pistol Annies – Best Years of My Life
Whitey Morgan & The 78’s – Around Here
Ward Davis – Good and Drunk
December 6, 2018 @ 1:53 pm
Jamie Lin Wilson for me every time.
December 6, 2018 @ 1:54 pm
Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke” is beyond brilliant, it would have been a winner if nominated. Moving on to the main list, “Space Cowboy” is that song, followed by Caitlyn Smith, Randall King and Cody Jinks (in no particular order). I won’t be upset if Lori McKenna won because her songwriting game is always on point. Now if the Pistol Annies songs had been switched around, Kacey would have a strong competitor in my books.
Who ever thought Kenny Chesney would be a contender for song of the year???
December 6, 2018 @ 2:21 pm
From the list, “Death and life”. I also enjoy “Head “Case” and “One Day at A Time”.
Eadys “Barabbas” or “Where I’ve been” have been stand out songs I keep going back to. Hell, there are several quality songs of both his new albums that could be nominated.
December 6, 2018 @ 2:30 pm
I guess I lost track of time, those Eady songs were from last year. Had a senior moment, i’m getting old.
December 6, 2018 @ 2:23 pm
Head Case by the Great Cody Jinks for me
December 6, 2018 @ 7:07 pm
Actually, I’d like to expand upon this. I feel that there are two songs off Lifers that could be “Song of the Year.” I know this is probably an unpopular opinion since the song won SOTY when Billy Don Burns put it out, but “Stranger” gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. However, out of the list, “Head Case” is my pick. My other favorite this year is Colter Wall’s haunting BDB cover of “Wild Dogs.”
December 6, 2018 @ 2:26 pm
I really liked Manitoba Man by Colter Wall.
December 6, 2018 @ 2:29 pm
Cheyenne is lovely. Great list overall. This Town is Killing Me is depressing, haunting. and true as hell. But what a gorgeous voice on Smith. Made me a new fan. Love all these songs. Lori McKenna is special l for sure.
December 6, 2018 @ 3:04 pm
Head Case, This Town is Killing Me, and Space Cowboy would have to be my favorites from this list.
Head Case is a fantastic song, but I’d say that the album as a whole left a lot of people disappointed and so choosing this wouldn’t have the impact it should. Also, I truly think a woman should get it this year.
I’m deadlocked between Space Cowboy and This Town is Killing Me. I’d have to go with Space Cowboy because of the production but the lyrics go to Smith… it’s a tough choice, but I definitely think one of them deserve it.
December 6, 2018 @ 3:17 pm
From the list, I’m going with “Summers End.” I really liked Kacey’s, Lori’s, Caitlyn’s, and Pistol Annies’ records, but I would have picked a different favorite from each of them. I think my actual SOTY would be Lori’s “The Fixer,” or “The Lot Behind St Mary’s”
December 6, 2018 @ 3:35 pm
Pretty biased here, but “Summer’s End”. It’s about memory, loss, longing, the passage of time, and emotional states that exist beyond our ability to fully explain them. It goes deeper into who we are as people in three and half minutes than most 600 page books.
December 6, 2018 @ 4:02 pm
My vote for beat song of the year is “Wasn’t I Paying Attention?” By Amanda Shires. Of the choices you listed, I’d vote “Summer’s End” by Mr. Prine.
December 6, 2018 @ 4:12 pm
It was a great year for music. Tons of great singles to chose from. One Day At A Time would have to be my favorite from this list. BJ proves once again he is one of the best at turning his personal demons into beautifully written lyrics. He is just another example of sobriety bringing out the best in a songwriter.
December 6, 2018 @ 4:41 pm
It’s been a great year for music, but there are two songs that stand out above the rest, and those are death and life and head case.
December 6, 2018 @ 4:47 pm
With the slim pickings available I have to back Kenny Chesney’s Better Boat. Lyrically it’s head and shoulders above the other nominations, and he actually seem’s to have the superior voice in this selection. Clear winner for me.
The single of the year is always the category where I disagree with SCM the most – I find most of the nominees each year are mawkish tracks.
December 6, 2018 @ 4:51 pm
A little shocked there is no mention of Ashley Mcbride in your lists. Dive Bar and The Jacket are excellent!
December 6, 2018 @ 4:54 pm
My wife: Better Boat
My 3 girls: Must Be the Whiskey
Me: (from list) People Get Old
Me: (not from list) Natural Disaster & Fiddlers Inn by Whitey
I love that we have so many great songs to choose from and disagree on which is the best. 2018 will go down as the year I personally got saved from corporate country music. Big thanks to Trig and the rest of y’all on here too. Keep em comin in 2019 and beyond! Merry Christmas everyone.
Also: Paul Bogart, Thank God Some Things Never Change definitely gets Christmas song of the year.
December 6, 2018 @ 5:50 pm
Thanks for reading Hammo.
December 6, 2018 @ 5:00 pm
Death & Life isn’t even my favorite song from that album, that’s how good it is.
I listen to a lot of music, but clearly have a lot more to listen to. May have to set my sports podcasts aside for a bit.
Surprised there is nothing from Carson McHone’s Carousel on this list. She might be getting ready to blow the eff up.
December 6, 2018 @ 6:46 pm
Agreed on JLW.
And I love “Dram Shop Gal” (Though I prefer the 2015 version; on Carousel, she seemed to want to make a statement that she wasn’t bound to “country”).
December 6, 2018 @ 5:15 pm
The songs I would have fought for:
1. “Around Here” – Whitey and the 78’s
2. “Culberson County” – Red Shahan
But among your finalists, I think it’s “Summer’s End” (Prine).
Not only is it perfect songwriting, the rises and falls of the melody are perfect, and the accompaniment knows its place. The obvious metaphor means so much––at this stage in Prine’s life and career, and sung with the voice he has––but it also leaves room for listeners to find their own stories within it.
December 6, 2018 @ 7:03 pm
It is worth noting that “Summer’s End” is a co-write: Prine and Pat McLaughlin.
December 6, 2018 @ 5:19 pm
To be clear: this is NOT a “sympathy vote” or a “lifetime achievement award” for Prine.
IMO, there has been an off-putting amount of that surrounding Tree of Forgiveness. (I think most mean it as respect, as recognizing him now––however late––as a great songwriter. But to my view, it comes off as patronizing.)
I genuinely think “Summer’s End” is the best of the 10 songs on your list.
December 7, 2018 @ 1:40 pm
I agree completely. Tree of Forgiveness is not nearly as good as people make it out to be, but Summer’s End is a terrific song. Fits Prine perfectly.
December 17, 2018 @ 9:02 am
Nailed that Phil. At the risk of incurring the wrath of the Prine Shrine members, I will say this. I have been listening to country music since the 70s and I have never, ever heard a Prine tune played on country radio. Never. I really have never viewed him as a country act, more a folk artist, a songwriter of high stature for sure. These days he’s the toast of Americana and rightfully so. But he’s always been in the shadows of mainstream music, a name known by select folks who are in the know. Then, Tree of Life comes out and all of sudden, he has mythical legend, greatest ever status. And many of these journalists who never followed him in the past, cannot stop the gushing reverence. Has he really had the same impact on country music as folks like Hank Williams, Kristofferson, Willie and the like? Perhaps not as much.That’s not meant as a slam, he’s a brilliant writer, but I wouldn’t categorize him country per se. And yes, there are folks like Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Cash and others who have covered some of his tunes, I understand that. Paradise seems to be the most commonly covered.
Summers End is a wonderful song though. Really something. It’s worthy of high praise so I get where Trig is coming from. But I feel like this list leans to the Americana side a bit heavily.
December 17, 2018 @ 12:34 pm
This list probably does lean a bit Americana, though I think there’s some really good country songs on it. But what I’m looking for most here is great songs. If they’re hardcore country, they get bonus points. But I won’t hold a good song back just because it’s more Americana as long as you can still hear the roots.
December 6, 2018 @ 6:14 pm
1. American Aquarium “One Day at a Time”
2 Jason Boland “Hard Times are Relative”
3. Wade Bowen “”Anchor”
December 6, 2018 @ 7:10 pm
“Time Is Everything” – Vivian Leva
December 6, 2018 @ 9:04 pm
Head Case is the clear #1 in my opinion. Its one of the best songs he’s done, right up there with Cast No Stones, David, Alone, and I’m Not the Devil.
Some of my other favorites:
Jason Boland and the Stragglers- Hard Times are Relative
Caitlyn Smith- This Town Is Killing Me
Cody Jinks- Somewhere Between I Love You and I’m Leavin
Ben Danaher- My Father’s Blood
Dierks Bentley- Son of the Sun and How I’m Going Out
Whitey Morgan and the 78s- Fiddler’s Inn and Around Here
Jason Eady- She Had to Run and I Travel On
Goodnight, Texas- Homesick
Anything from Tom Buller’s album
December 6, 2018 @ 9:51 pm
Ah yes ‘Somewhere Between I Love You and I’m Leaving” is a definite top song for me. Not sure how I forgot that one. It is a song that will stand the test of time imo. It is solid country gold in every possible way.
December 7, 2018 @ 2:38 pm
Most don’t know that “Somewhere Between I Love You and I’m Leaving” was co written by Whitey, it’s one of my favorites of the year as well. I think they should record a duet and release it.
December 9, 2018 @ 3:34 am
Really? I had no idea. Well shit.
December 6, 2018 @ 9:38 pm
I choose Randall King band when he knows me. I think lots of people can relate to its story. The saddest part of the disease is to be forgotten by the person you love so much and has shared so much life with you. I love that he sings about when he knows him, not dwelling on all the loss. That moment when his grandad knows him is like magic for just a moment before it slips away. I like the way he sings about the man his grandad was and not the man the disease has stripped away. Very touching and anyone who has dealt with the disease is touched by these words.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:39 pm
Solid list Trigger. Party Of One- Brandi Carlile was my favorite song in any genre this year. I guess I piano/vocal ain’t that country. Glad to see “Space Cowboy” up here and an AA song on here, could’ve picked anything from Things Change.
December 6, 2018 @ 11:50 pm
Several songs from the Nathan Kalish album “I want to believe”. This 4show.
https://youtu.be/91TM6drbgcQ
December 7, 2018 @ 4:41 am
Love the nominees!
December 7, 2018 @ 4:59 am
I usually place a vote but I havent had as much time to dive into the new relases lately so Ill just say this is a hell of a list and a case can be made for all of these songs. I wish you luck Trigger when you have to pick one of these.
December 7, 2018 @ 5:17 am
Just like the album categories, this is tough but I’m going to have to go with Caitlyn Smith, she just makes you feel it. Even if you’ve never done the Nashville thing, which I have not, the theme can be applied to any person trying to make something work, and missing out on life because of it. I was a long way from home when they buried my grandfather back in 93, so that particular line in the song about her grandfather grabbed me because I can relate; you can’t take it back.
Jamie Lynn Wilson is my number two pick. That song is just country as can be, and it causes me to stop and take pause. She was my album of the year pick, although her or Caitlyn’s album are interchangeable for me.
December 7, 2018 @ 6:56 am
My favorite song this year is Two Cold Nights in Buffalo by Courtney Marie Andrews. Of the songs nominated, Death & Life by Jamie Lin Wilson gets my vote. My favorite song from a great album.
December 7, 2018 @ 2:01 pm
That was my favorite from the record. Put that on the Spotify playlist.
December 7, 2018 @ 7:45 am
(Haven’t heard all the nominees yet.)
I’m voting for “Cheyenne” but arguing for the final cut on “Interstate Gospel,” “This Too Shall Pass.”
The album asks the age-old question “Can love last?” and the title seems to go along with the message of traditional gospel music, that nothing on this earth is eternal. But the Annies’ use of the phrase is more in keeping with the original Persian fable: “A powerful king … asks assembled wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad. After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the words ‘This too will pass’ etched on it, which has the desired effect to make him happy when he is sad” (Wikipedia). The singer tells her lover that even though he may feel bad because he’s doing everything wrong, that only shows he’s doing something right. The song shows that it’s only the missteps that temporary. In these dark times (terrorism, nationalism, fake country music getting more attention than the real stuff), “Interstate Gospel” is tender and encouraging, while not ignoring (a la country pop) all the bad things. It’s a remarkable achievement.
Honorable Mention: “Easy Money Down in Texas” by Ray Wylie Hubbard. Not his sharpest work, but still capable of slicing through a phone book of most folks’ best lyrics. Unlike “Brokenhearted” (a simplistic song lamenting simplistic country songs), “Easy Money” is an ironic and trenchant look at how and why fake music has supplanted the real stuff. “Fake” in this case isn’t country pop or bro country but hipster country by musicians who pretend to be traditionalists. Hubbard name checks Townes van Zandt to show how easy it has become to show your hipness by name checking Townes van Zandt (which is why Hubbard rhymes van Zandt with the sarcastic advice “Wear your hair like Robert Plant”). True words from someone who has never made an easy dime in his life, and never will.
December 9, 2018 @ 2:59 pm
Would love to read a full review of Interstate Gospel from you! 🙂
December 7, 2018 @ 8:44 am
Great list as always. Summers End and Space Cowboy are my tops for this year.
December 7, 2018 @ 9:17 am
1- When a country boy gets the blues Tom Buller
2- Home away from home Josh Ward
3- Lonesome as a shadow Charley Crockett
4- I won’t be sorry David Lee Murphy
5- Killing me nice and slow Dallas Moore
6- That’s alright Jason Eady
7- Life and Debt Town Mountain
8- Other Arrangements Parker Millsap
9- Keep her on the line Randall King
10 – Ruston Kelly Blackout
Album of the Year Charlie Crockett Lonesome as a shadow
#2 Tom Buller
#3 Randall King
Comeback artist/album of the year: David Lee Murphy
Wanted more from the album but I still lov’em award:
Cody Jinx
Dillon Carmichael
William Clark Green
Roll the windows up if anyone is around, but sing every song award:
Darrin Morris Band Country to the bone
Hope they make it cause they dang ole good award:
Laine Hardy – Louisana Lady
Thank God your still making music award:
Loretta Lynn – Rubys Stool
Must Not Miss:
Wade Bowen – Acuna
Craig Gerdes – Smokin Drinkin & Gamblin
Drew Parker – Just Asking
Bishop Gunn – Shine
Jeff Bates – If I get drunk tonight 2017?
Shane Owens – Love to try them on
Cody Johnson – Monday Morning Merle
2019 new album wish list:
Alex Williams
Sturg
Dwight
King Leg (A whole CD with loneliness on it will do fine)
Teea Goans (Sucker for 80’s country sound)
Lilly Hiatt
Jon Wolfe
Moot Davis
Emi Sunshine
December 7, 2018 @ 9:34 am
1. Space Cowboy
2. Better Boat
3. The Joke
December 7, 2018 @ 9:35 am
3 way tie for me.
1-Head Case because it’s beautiful
1-Cheyenne because my wife, who had the same name with a different spelling, left me earlier this year, and this sounds like they were reading my mind while writing it.
1-Better Boat because life sometimes sucks but we keep pushing on and trying to make things better and that’s what this song says to me.
December 7, 2018 @ 10:19 am
Late to the game but i have to say “people get old”. Masterpiece.
December 7, 2018 @ 10:49 am
Summer’s End evokes an emotion. Isn’t that what great songs do? It takes me back to summers past. Makes me think of how quickly time passes. Makes me both sad and longing for days gone by.
Great song from John and Pat.
December 7, 2018 @ 12:02 pm
Winner – When a Country Boy Gets The Blues – Tom Buller
December 7, 2018 @ 1:14 pm
it’s ditty. not diddy.
December 7, 2018 @ 2:37 pm
head Case is fantastic. Definitely not my favorite Cody Jinks song, but probably his best written.
December 7, 2018 @ 6:57 pm
1. Hard Times are Relative
2. Broken Glass (Wade Bowen getting no love!)
3. Steak Night at the Prairie Rose
December 7, 2018 @ 10:39 pm
That’s the first time I’ve heard “People Get Old” and it hits like a gut punch. My dad turned 60 last year, his parents both turned 90 this year. It’s been a year of realizing that the people I love aren’t as young as I think they are. I can so identify with the line “And you still think he’s forty-five and he still thinks that you’re a kid…” Forget that, I can identify with most of the song. The other songs are good (shoutout to “When He Knows Me”), but from these choices, “People Get Old” is easily my vote for SOTY.
December 8, 2018 @ 5:56 am
Whitey Morgan and the 78s deserve a spot…. Around Here or What Am I Supposed To Do.
December 8, 2018 @ 7:59 am
Lori McKenna – People get old. A masterpiece in songwriting/storytelling. “Every line on your face tells a story somebody knows”
December 8, 2018 @ 10:12 am
I woke up this morning with “People Get Old” in my head, though I may have leaned more toward “The Bells of St. Mary’s” as a choice. Regardless, Lori gets my nod, though “Head Case” is a close second. Great selections!
December 8, 2018 @ 3:12 pm
Most of those are very nice tunes, Thanks for the links to them….
but this town is killing me stands above the rest.
December 9, 2018 @ 3:02 pm
Love is a Wild Thing is probably my personal SOTY. That banjo! The musical interlude after the bridge!
But so glad to see Cheyenne on this list! I liked it least on my first listen but now it gets the most play. It might be my favorite vocal from Miranda ever and that’s a tough call since I’m a huge fan of her.
December 10, 2018 @ 10:46 am
Jamie Lin Wilson’s “Death & Life” and Lori McKenna’s “People Get Old” are my two favorite from this year. Both songs are just so beautiful, deep, personal and universal at the same time. There are two lines from “Death & Life” that just made me stop:
“The old ones hold the young like the time will never last”
“The young ones hold the old like it’s the only thing they have”
Maybe it is because I have a baby girl who is about to turn one but both of these songs get me every time I listen to them.
December 10, 2018 @ 12:01 pm
1. Space Cowboy. The song is full of Kacey’s usual wit, and her work is helping show the mainstream what country is all about.
2. Summer’s End. There is not a better songwriter alive than John Prine.
Other thumbs up from me on this list: Better Boat, This Town Is Killing Me, Cheyenne
Songs that should have made the list:
Saskatchewan in 1881 – Colter Wall
Mockingbird – Ruston Kelly
December 11, 2018 @ 7:14 am
Jamie Lin Wilson – “The Being Gone”
Reminds me of one of my all-time Country favorites, Emmylou’s “Boulder to Birmingham”. In both there is the contrast between the anguished subject-matter and the soaring, ecstatic (but somehow also still anguished) apotheosis of the chorus. Both embody musically that driving force which forces you to keep going despite yourself, when you would rather stay put for a bit. Is all that worth the being gone? The song itself, the fact of its existence and its being nothing short of sublime, is a tentative answer in the affirmative.
December 11, 2018 @ 12:40 pm
“My Way” gets my vote.
I don’t think it has the best writing. I don’t think it has the best singing. What it does have is that “special something” that’s so hard to pin down in really great songs. Of the songs on the list, it’s the one I find my self keep going back to the most and wanting to hear again & again.
There are so many delightful little accents & flourishes & interesting nuggets of instrumental phrasing that perfectly complement the driving beat & singing/lyrics. It’s one of those songs where the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. It is far & away the most sonically complete & pleasing song on this list, in my opinion.
December 11, 2018 @ 4:14 pm
Cheyenne makes me feel all the things. my vote!
December 11, 2018 @ 6:13 pm
My Way by Ervin Stellar is some of the best Outlaw Country Ive heard. Keep it coming Erv!
December 12, 2018 @ 10:20 am
This list is a great representation of some of the unheard of, and also old favorite, artists that are keeping this genre relevant. I’m liking Head Case and My Way. They’re some of the only two songs that I feel I HAVENT heard before – something truly unique. Maybe more so, My Way. The lyrics are not the classic up front story-telling you might associate with “Country”, but the overall essence is something special.
December 12, 2018 @ 2:49 pm
“One Day at a Time” is the song for me. That line you quote is as close to perfection as you can get – not quite “I shot a man in Reno” but damn close. Second would be “Better Boat” although it was on Travis’ album from 2017. Third of the nominees is “Around Here” – not many out there speaking for the working man better than Whitey. Not nominated, and maybe I am partial because of the subject matter, is “King of Alabama” by Brent Cobb.
December 12, 2018 @ 8:29 pm
All great songs. Fantastic songwriting by everyone in this year’s list. My top 5 songs from this list are One Day at a Time, Cheyenne, My Way, Summer’s End, Better Boat.
Other favorites from this year other than this list are Slow Burn, If you were a Cowboy, Bad Time to Be an Outlaw and Sure love to try them on.
December 12, 2018 @ 8:41 pm
Oh, and Girl Goin Nowhere.
December 13, 2018 @ 11:02 am
And Every time I hear that song – BC
December 18, 2018 @ 11:10 pm
Dwight’s Then Here Came Monday is probably my most played song of 2018 even though it hasn’t had an album release yet.
December 19, 2018 @ 7:55 pm
Excellent list except for the Kacey Musgraves stuff. Nothing she did in 2018 could legitimately be called country. Catchy pop tunes worthy of adult contemporary airplay for sure but nowhere near country.