Album Review – Carter Faith’s “Cherry Valley”
Country Pop (#530.2) with song Traditional Country (#530) on the Country DDS.
Welcome to Carter Faith’s Cherry Valley, which feels both decadent and quaint, inviting and a little intimidating, full of delights, but with temptations and heartbreaks around every turn, where the bitterness is chased with sweetness. It’s a musical universe this young artist originally from North Carolina has created for herself as an emotional haven that she lets the audience peer into through the portal of her debut album.
There is a new cohort of country women launching promising careers that don’t make themselves easy to quantify or compartmentalize in your country music brain. That’s because they’re creating a space for themselves previously unoccupied. The sound is surprisingly twangy and country in moments, though still inflected throughout with pop sensibility. They’re super cute, but overly cussy. Their approach is more independent and less radio-focused, yet still very much indicative of Nashville.
We’re talking about the Willow Avalon’s and Maggie Antone’s of the world, and Carter Faith could definitely be considered among this crew. But what Carter does with Cherry Valley is separate herself from by advancing more mature songwriting, and showcasing a voice that feels generational in scope. Not since Caitlyn Smith have we heard this combination of top-caliber songwriting with a superior voice brought to music that can appeal to country and pop fans without losing credibility with either.
Cherry Valley has some tracks that will present a challenge to the more hardcore country fans. “Sex, Drugs, & Country Music” might be Carter Faith’s love letter to the genre, but the words are perhaps a little too racy for those in the parental demo. “Betty” gets going with a clever premise, but gets a little too carried away with alliteration until the letter ‘B’ is bouncing around the inside of your brain like a ping-pong ball.
“Bar Star” might be one of the more country-sounding tracks on the record, but is a little too cute for itself, and lacks the gravity you want from a good song. But after seeding Cherry Valley with more buzzy, accessible cuts, Carter Faith took her time crafting more meaningful moments to fill out and bookend a very thought-out and enriching record. Even in its lighter moments, the songs still feel honest and biographical to Carter Faith’s own experience. This is her album, not anyone else’s.
The song “Six String” takes you on an emotional ride that some entire albums fail to achieve, with cunning turns of phrase around every corner exploring the fungible nature of words. Along with the next song “If I Had Never Lost My Mind,” they anchor the listening experience with the weight and depth you want from music.
“So I Sing” is a great example of writing a song in a way that showcases a songwriter’s vocal strengths, which is a challenge for most songwriters. It exploits the range and contours of Carter Faith’s voice expertly. And though she is a naturally-gifted singer, you can tell Carter Faith’s musical foundation stems from songwriting. The song “Changed” is a great example, as are the opening and closing tracks that take advantage of strings to achieve immersive moments.
Some might find themselves cherry picking their way through Cherry Valley, especially during the first half of the album. But with 15 tracks, you can still walk away with a good bushel of songs that sound sweet to you. Some of the inconsistency is what keeps this album from achieving a superior rating overall. But Carter Faith exudes nothing but promise, and turns in some moments that peak the emotional meter on this auspicious debut.
8/10
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Purchase/Stream Carter Faith’s Cherry Valley
October 15, 2025 @ 9:02 am
This has quickly raised to one of my top albums of 2025. I love the fun playfulness of songs like Grudge that don’t take themselves too serious, and then to be able to get hit with raw emotions in others as you laid out. There is a large number of women that play damn good country music and it’s a damn shame they arent getting the recognition they deserve, instead we get whatever the hell Austin Snell and Graham Barham are. My top 3 albums of the year are Hailey Whitters and Corn Queen, then William Beckmann, and now Cherry Valley by Carter Faith. I’m excited to see her career play out.
October 15, 2025 @ 10:21 am
A new artist to me and I have given this album a few listens in the last few days and really enjoyed it. Its very good. Well worth a listen.
October 15, 2025 @ 10:58 am
She’s come a long way since playing at Camden Yards in Baltimore due to her father being one of the lawyers for Peter Angelos.
Really like this album, have given it quite a few listens since it came out.
December 17, 2025 @ 10:35 pm
Interesting. I listened to this today and it didn’t do much for me. Really cliche country pop. I kept thinking, “This sounds like a girl who was a straight A, cheerleading captain, rich girl in high school. She decided she liked Shania Twain and maybe a little Miranda Lambert. Her daddy got her voice lessons and maybe some guitar and piano lessons. He also knew some folks who knew some folks in Nashville and since his daughter had a trained voice and supermodel looks…well…it was a no-brainer to start making her a star.” I don’t believe for one minute she’s ever smoked grass and listened to Waylon Jennings or stepped foot into an actual rural dive bar, and while I don’t demand authenticity from my country music singers, this feels waaaay too packaged and fake for me.
October 15, 2025 @ 11:09 am
I’ll share again that I’m old as dirt and that this isn’t made for me… but on weekends our farm shop fills up with genZ girls bluetoothing their Spotify and screaming into a half inch drive ratchet, singing along to Carter, Zandi, Maggie, Emily, Willow.
On the scale from permissive to degenerate it falls well outside of my comfort zone, but when I step back and see rap and hip-hop lyrics it’s really pretty harmless.
This is good country music, and the kids are alright.
October 15, 2025 @ 11:22 am
Oh man! That’s such an awesome image. This stuff is also not for me (although I was also a girl screaming into a ratchet wrench once- there was a period where I joked that my idea of the most fun time was working on a car with other girls, just because it was such a rare thing for my generation). But I’m so glad that this kind of country is happening now.
Trigger, wasn’t there. Another kind of semi-neo-traditional semi-pop female artist with contemporary themes that you reviewed a couple years ago?
October 15, 2025 @ 2:28 pm
“I met the birds and bees
The Highwaymen and weed
And once I tried all three
I found my trinity”
Dolly Parton, we hardly knew ye.
December 17, 2025 @ 10:37 pm
And yet…I get the feeling she just sings about these things because being a rebel plays well in today’s market. I get the sense that the most rebellious thing she ever did was smoke a joint and get a little drunk at homecoming one night but she still made it home by curfew because she had to be at cheerleading practice the next morning.
October 16, 2025 @ 6:26 am
My wife and I take turns playing music in the backyard while lounging or taking a swim. About a month ago she told me she found a new artists she thought I would like and played me Bar Star from Carter Faith. She was right, I did like it with its kinda old school Honky Tonk type theme, though it was a little over the top. My wife however has continued to follow and play songs from Faith, and appears to be a fan.
For me, I like Faith’s music, but wouldn’t really consider it to be in my zone of usual listening. Guess I’m with James comment above. It’s catchy and enjoyable enough, and she’s a good singer. Though i’m not sure she quite lives up to Trigger’s Caitlyn Smith comparison. I probably won’t be adding Faith to my own personal listening time, but I’m not complaining when my wife adds her to the backyard playlist. This is the type of fun and accessible country that should be on the radio.
October 16, 2025 @ 8:36 am
I’ve heard her song Betty on the radio three times the past two days, hopefully that’s a good sign for her success and the direction of mainstream country.
October 20, 2025 @ 6:11 am
General comment, but in your summary at the top you should identify the record label, or if it’s self released. It’s helpful to know where some of these releases sit.
October 23, 2025 @ 8:03 am
Interesting. I saw her before I heard her and assumed she would be someone who was starting here but before long would be in something on stage with her ass hanging out opening for Sabrina Carpenter.
But with that voice, she is going to be in country for quite a while. And we are the better for it because, as Trigger notes, this is pretty good stuff.
I will point out that her voice and phrasing at times sounds like Lilly Hiatt. Yes, daughter of John. If you’ve not heard her, you should.
January 24, 2026 @ 11:05 am
It’s so validating that the phenomenal writer of these reviews loves this album as much as I do! My expectations were low, but I found myself charmed and at times even entranced by the mix of cheeky wit and aching poignancy.
“If I Had Never Lost My Mind” feels like an ode to all of us who have suffered from mental health issues – or just gone a little crazy after having our hearts broken! My old-fashioned self winced at a bit of the cursing and through most of “Sex, Drugs and Country Music” (the way country music tends to glorify drinking/smoking/etc is the only aspect of the genre that I don’t love!), but overall I absolutely LOVE this album and am so thrilled to see that many of the brilliant folks on here do as well!