Nathan Evans Fox is originally from rural Glen Alpine, North Carolina and a 4th generation farm. His new album Heirloom very much embraces and symbolizes the confluence of contradictions in the American South.
Not that many were questioning it previously, but on Saturday night, July 18th at the Under The Big Sky Festival in Whitefish, Montana, Zach Top had a resounding answer to anyone who wondered if he deserves headliner status.
West Virginia’s John R. Miller gratifies a whole host of musical erogenous zones on his new album The Great Unknowing, including honky tonk country, Appalachian folk, feral folk rock, and a few other things.
The mixing of country with dark inspirations either from its past, or from influences from the world of punk and metal and beyond have resulted in some of the most creative, inventive, and spellbinding moments in the history of the country canon.
Mr. Keith has crafted a classic country record, and a darn good one too, filled with great country instrumentation, clever and true-to-country lyricism, and good old-fashioned heartbreak. It reminds you why you’re a country fan.
It’s the way that River wields an uncanny ability to craft incredibly infectious melodies, and then brings them to bear on music otherwise colored with dark themes. It’s the way the music mixes country and rock…
Amid the race to the bottom that right-leaning mainstream country performers such as Lee Brice and Brantley Gilbert are currently devolving into, the extremely left-leaning politically-focused Bryan Andrews just bested them all.
Jason Eady isn’t just a master craftsman songwriter whose services are considered invaluable in the Texas scene and beyond. He’s a tireless student on the music as well, soaking up any and all knowledge he can about the various modes.
Full recap of the 2026 Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic at the Germania Amphitheater in Austin, TX. Other performers included Billy Strings, Lukas Nelson, Rodney Crowell, Wilco, Margo Price, Stephen Wilson Jr., Lily Meola, and Sheryl Crow.
Like something sweet left outside for any extended period of time in the summer, the voice of Bella White attracts a multitude of living things with its siren-like quality calling out for yearning hearts to come be filled from its bounty.
The perfect balance between familiar and accessible, and involved and thought-provoking. This is country music at an elevated level that belies Addison Johnson’s otherwise underdog status.
“Banks of the Trinity” finds Cody Johnson exploring much more contemporary, radio-friendly sounds as opposed to sticking to the more traditional sound his fans have become accustomed to.
Never losing touch with the heavy emotions and hard choices so many of the people in his own audience are weighted down and faced with, BJ Barham and American Aquarium deliver an impassioned, propulsive, and potent experience.
Whatever sound this east Texas band is searching for, the certainly found one that makes fast friends with the ears and hearts of true country listeners who love to hear twang in their tunes, and songs inspired from real life.
“Feet On Fire” feels like an especially inspired and more original work from Mr. Chapman. It feels more personal, more intentional, more in line with the best works from artists like fellow Georgian Brent Cobb, or maybe Marcus King.
It feels like you can’t spit these days without hitting a new neotraditionalist. But that doesn’t make the songs of the meteorically-rising Mack Geiger any less impressive. He doesn’t just have the style and sound, but songs that yearn for something.
Where to land on Midland might have just as much to do with your mood that day as it does with the band and the music itself. But it’s hard to stay mad about them when listening to their new album “Stages.”
When it comes to an album that you can set to play, leave it running and repeating endlessly that will fill a home or a happy road trip with nothing but mood-enhancing moments, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better replacement to “Sun of Amen.”
It’s time to consider the best songs and singles of 2026 so far. Opinions on songs are always more varied than even with albums. But the point of this exercise is to help inform the public about a song they might have missed.
Within the songs and verses of ‘Signs,’ others might also find a path through questions, travails, or difficult times in their lives, or be inspired to take their own journey of personal discovery and enlightenment. It’s not ‘just’ a country album.
The Red Clay Strays are American music. And most any genre should want to claim them as their own since they immediately up the ante of talent among it. The Red Clay Strays also can’t be anything but themselves.
Coby Acuff goes full-blown Outlaw on ‘Handmade Horsepower,’ laying grooves down, giving into two-tone beats, featuring a little phaser on the guitar every now and then, and getting outright mouthy about the ills of the music industry.
As we near the halfway pole of the musical year, it’s time to reflect back on the best albums that have been released so far. The top ten albums listed below should be considered early Album of the Year contenders.
Herein lies what might be one of the greatest Western-inspired albums released in this year, or frankly, in many other years. With his debut album produced by Dave Cobb, the young-in-age, but old-in-soul…