Newest Adds to Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist (#158)
You can take your chances sifting through Morgan Wallen’s new 37-song monstrosity looking for your next favorite song, or you can trust Saving Country Music, who excruciatingly curates this playlist, and includes the stuff the mainstream folks would rather you not hear.
The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist is built to keep you informed on all the best songs and albums coming out right here, right now in country and roots music. It’s available on most all streaming formats (see below), or you can just use the song, artist, and album recommendations to find something new to listen to. New songs just added.
Newest Additions:
Will Banister – “Forever” – Will Banister’s got one of the greatest modern voices in country music, and it isn’t utilized nearly enough. A lot of folks got clued into Will when his voice appeared in the 2021 Clint Eastwood film Cry Macho. “Forever” is an excellent tune to showcase Banister’s gift, and it was co-written by Jake Worthington.
Chandler Walters – “Worth The Trouble” – Walters might be best known as the steel guitar player working with Earnest and Post Malone. But as he proves with “Worth The Trouble,” he can write and sing killer traditional country tunes all himself. This Western Swing-feeling track appears on Ernest’s new multi-artist compilation called Cadillac Sessions.
Kelsey Waldon – “Tiger Lilies” – Kelsey Waldon goes with an Outlaw sound for one of the latest tunes from her upcoming album Every Ghost out June 20th. Tiger lilies remind Waldon of her grandmother who had the flowers in her yard. When she passed, Waldon replanted them in her garden, and the flowers help the memory live on.
Ole 60 – “Nancy Avenue” – Not unlike The Red Clay Strays, Ole 60 has found viral appeal with little support from the industry, and often with songs that deliver a lot of heart. Their first new song in seven months shows further maturity in this band who is quickly becoming the next big thing from Kentucky.
Kendell Marvel w/ Isaac Gibson, Randy Houser, Ashley McBryde – “Bad Bad Boys” – Kendell Marvel assembles an ‘A’-Team of top country talent to pay tribute to the bad behavior that gave rise to some of the greatest songs ever written and sung in country music.
Tanner Laws – “Aim To Please” – From Montana, Tanner Laws turns in his first single recorded in Nashville, and it’s a honky tonk scorcher with some killer instrumentation and fun writing. Look out for this young man breaking out sooner than later in the traditional country resurgence.
Hayden Baker – “Home Into a House” – Some of the greatest country songs come from taking timeless themes, but finding new ways to express them. This is what Hayden Baker does with “Home Into a House” as he continues to release quality songs. He also plays his own lead licks on this honky tonk heater.
Kristina Murray – “The After Midnight Special” – Kristina Murray is gifted in how she can convey so much pain through her music and singing, and “The After Midnight Special” is a prime example of this. From her highly-regarded new album Little Blue.
Jake Worthington – “It Ain’t The Whiskey” – Worthington might have discovered his breakout single. “It Ain’t The Whiskey” has been on fire since its release. It was inspired by the true story of when a love interest got Jake’s heart fluttering and tires swerving, resulting in getting pulled over for suspected DUI.
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The Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist primarily lives on Spotify, but is also available for those who use Amazon Music, YouTube, and Apple Music. For those who don’t stream music, you can still find the song recommendations in list form below.
CLICK HERE to follow Saving Country Music on Spotify, and/or follow the Spotify Top 25 Playlist.
Please Note: The songs on this playlist are curated for listening pleasure and flow. Otherwise, they are not in any specific order.
Saving Country Music’s Top 25 Current Playlist:
- “Worth The Trouble” – Chandler Walters – Cadillac Sessions
- “Heaven Passing Through” – Turnpike Troubadours – The Price of Admission
- “Tiger Lilies” – Kelsey Waldon – Every Ghost (6-20)
- “Aim to Please” – Tanner Laws – (single)
- “Breaking Up The Band” – Kat Hasty – The Time Of Your Life
- “It Ain’t The Whiskey” – Jake Worthington – (single)
- “Nancy Avenue” – Ole 60 – (single)
- “Home Into a House”- Hayden Baker – (single)
- “Forever” – Will Banister – (single)
- “El Camino” – Johnny Falstaff – (single)
- “The After Midnight Special” – Kristina Murray – Little Blue
- “Doin’ Time” – Christopher Seymore – King of Nothing
- “Hole In Me” – Pug Johnson – El Cabron
- “High On The Hog” – Hailey Whitters – Corn Queen (6-6)
- “Round and Round” – Country Honk – Bad Decision
- “Almost, so Close, so Long, Goodbye” – Walker Montgomery – (single)
- “You” – Olivia Ellen Lloyd – Do It Myself
- “Honky Tonk Blue” – William Beckmann – Whiskey, Lies, and Alibis (6-20)
- “Swinging Doors” – Stacy Antonel – The Seahorses: Volume 1
- “Long Way Home” – Matt Daniel – The Poet
- “Lost In Time” – Weldon Henson – Stone Cold Country (5-31)
- “My Time Is Gonna Come” – Jesse Daniel – Son of the San Lorenzo (6-6)
- “Another Time and Place” – Juliet McConkey – Southern Front
- “Bad Bad Boys” – Kendell Marvell w/ Randy Houser, Isaac Gibson, Ashley McBryde – (single)
- “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am” – The Castellows – (single)
- “Work Is Work” – Willi Carlisle – Winged Victory (6-27)
- “On The Red River” – Turnpike Troubadours – The Price of Admission
May 18, 2025 @ 11:21 am
I really like the Kendell Marvel and Kelsey Waldon tracks, damn Trig, all these new ones are good!!! Cody’s new song Found, is in my playlist. The morning drive into work slot sees Caitlin Cannon’s Love Addict and the 3 Hailey Whitters songs getting played with Adam Chaffins new EP Trailer Trash right there with John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff as well.
I do like the Matt Daniel album, and it is in the afternoon bike trail rotation alongside The Wilder Blue and your Turnpike Troubadours records. All solid for a soundtrack to a bike ride on a hot day.
Can’t get the 2 Ty’s (Myers and Smith) out of the headline slots, but Dan Lepien’s Honky Tonk Traditional, released Friday is just so good it’s now a 3 way tie. None of these 3 albums sound alike either. Ty Smith will be here Friday at the world famous Law Office Pub in Yorkville, and we’re all excited about that. We can’t wait!!!
May 18, 2025 @ 4:00 pm
JB-C, If I didn’t have to be at a wedding on Saturday in Kentucky I’d be making the 3 hour trek to Yorkville to join you for Ty Smith. Still in heavy rotation down here in Indy as well. Please let Ty know I’ll pack the house if he can get down here to Duke’s sometime. Checking out Dan Lepien now. Did not expect that kind of real country coming from Wisconsin. Wow.
May 18, 2025 @ 4:48 pm
I’ll tell Ty and his entourage that Indy is a must stop on the way here or on the way back from now on Rich. He’s young, and they seem to have it dialed in, so he’ll have many more shows/tours coming. They still have him playing Bratfest in Madison, WI on Sunday on the fest site, but it’s not mentioned on Ty’s webpage so I’m not sure what’s up with that show.
I went to Madison to watch Dan Lepien open for Drake Milligan and finally got him down here for one gig. His debut album after 2 EPs is hopefully gonna get him a little recognition. Thanks for giving it a spin. It’s tough out there with 10-15 albums dropping every week, FFS!!!
May 18, 2025 @ 8:53 pm
Just a couple of days ago I was asking in the comments what is going on with Drake milligan.
What did you think of the show?
May 19, 2025 @ 4:00 am
I’d seen Drake a couple of times before Madison, as he came here opening for Runaway June in 2021, and he also played 2 headline shows at Carol’s Pub here in January 2022. Drake is a pro’s Pro, a great songwriter and entertainer. It’s been over a year since his EP Jukebox Songs came out. He hasn’t been back to Chicago in 3 yrs. I always see he has good opening slots and festival shows, so I hope he’s working on a new album and comes back soon. It takes time…….just like The Castellows, you gotta pay some dues. For both, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. They’ll be fine.
May 23, 2025 @ 10:00 pm
Milligan is touring with Luke Bryan currently. Hope that’s not an indication of where his next album will be heading musically.
May 24, 2025 @ 7:07 am
Well, I’ll give you all the short version with the full recap and video on my FB page later on. Ty Smith & The Minor Offenses came through town last night, ate some pizza, and proceeded to tear the roof off the legendary Law Office Pub in Yorkville. To say he/they exceeded expectations is an understatement. Powerful and jaw dropping is all I can say. If I were younger I’d make the trip to Brat Fest on Sunday, but I just can’t do it anymore. I hesitate to say it because on rare occasion I’m wrong but …….. catch him while you can, he’s going to be huge…….. Thanks again Trig for alerting us to such young talent.
May 24, 2025 @ 12:35 pm
That’s awesome! So good to hear they killed it. Cannot wait to see em and thanks for the recap JB-C. If you go to the Ranch’s website there’s a podcast from Steamboat where Shane interviews Ty. It’s short but it’s clear he is mature well beyond his years and really seems to have his head on straight and dialed in for the long haul.
May 24, 2025 @ 2:07 pm
Rich I just found out Ty’s playing in Monticello, Indiana at The Dynamite Jet Saloon tonight if it’s anywhere near you? Nobody told me last night!!! I won’t be driving there either. They also told me new mgmnt is working on the webpage that why the dates aren’t all up on there. They’re on Facebook posts.
May 18, 2025 @ 11:27 am
Thanks for the updates Trigger. I’ve been resisting Ole 60 figuring they were nothing more than a TikTok flash in the pan but seeing them make this playlist will get me to dig in on them. Darci Carlson is back! Dropped a banger called “Too Drunk to Drive.” I’m already nominating (as if I have any say of course) The Castellows “Broke” for song of the year – incredible. Hoping that one makes the next update.
May 18, 2025 @ 12:25 pm
I was also leery of Ole 60 and I still want to see and hear more before I’m ready to proclaim them something more than a Tik-Tok sensation. But after having seeing them perform live last month and hearing the new song, I think they’ve got something, and their instincts seem to be taking them in the right direction.
May 19, 2025 @ 9:31 am
With all due respect for your great work, I find the skepticism expressed here, not for the first time, towards musicians who become known through social media to be somewhat incomprehensible and also somewhat outdated.
This site is primarily about independent country, right? If a band wants to play shows, they are dependent on the promoter. If a band wants to record and release a record, they are dependent on recording studios and record labels (unless they do it completely DIY). If a band wants to be played on the radio, they are dependent on the stations. If a band wants to be discussed on a site like SCM, they are dependent on the taste and preference of the journalist.
If a band wants to upload their songs, they are more independent than with any of the above options.
There are so many excellent new artists like Ole60, the Castellows, Wyatt Flores, Maggie Antone, Kashus Culpepper, Sam Barber, Zandi Holup, and many others who have gained attention through social media and, in some cases, become very well known. Why shouldn’t these people use TikTok or Instagram as a platform to promote their music? And why are they initially met with prejudice?
It’s as if someone 60 or 70 years ago was skeptical of artists just because they recorded vinyl records or were played on the radio and used these media to gain exposure.
May 19, 2025 @ 10:10 am
Hey Akade,
I feel like you’re misrepresenting my take on this here, especially since I just added an Ole 60 track to the playlist, and that’s the whole reason were even talking about this. I definitely think social media has been super important to the independent country revolution, and have said this in print countless times, and in dedicated articles. That said, there is also definitely a way an artist with some money behind them can pay social media influencers to push tracks resulting in inflated numbers that don’t always reflect the actual appeal of a performer, in a way that is inequitable to other performers who don’t have this resource, and there are definitely some performers who’ve built their entire career upon this model. These are two separate concerns. So I’m not leery of social media stars. If I was, I would have never talked about Wyatt Flores,The Castellows, Jesse Welles, Zach Bryan, etc. But there are some that when you go and see them live, they stare at their shoes, seem completely foreign to the stage, and don’t translate to the real world, at least in their current state. This is a fair concern to broach about these artists. But when I saw Ole 60, I didn’t walk away with that concern.
May 18, 2025 @ 1:23 pm
That sounds like a bit of an old man’s take. Tik Tok is just a way of life now for new artists trying to make it. It doesn’t reflect negatively on the quality of those that embrace it.
May 18, 2025 @ 4:07 pm
Probably true and I certainly understand TikTok is a valuable tool in the toolbox for artists but I’m going to be skeptical of anything where the current number one country song on a platform is by BigXthaPlug and Bailey Zimmerman. In descending order I trust for new music: this website, The Ranch, other artists, Spotify suggestions, friends, my 21-year old nephew (who thinks Bailey Zimmerman invented country music), and dead last whatever is viral on TikTok.
May 19, 2025 @ 9:18 pm
I heard Broke for the first time today on some Spotify curated playlist. That’s usually a crappy way to get new music, but it got something right with that suggestion. I’m going to listen to more from that band this weekend.
May 20, 2025 @ 12:24 pm
Darci is a legit hard-boiled badass and I hope there’s more to come. Thanks for the heads up, banger indeed. Since some rando named Rich outperformed muh 8 million dollar algorithm – anything on Charlie Marie or Ian Noe, lolzzz.
May 18, 2025 @ 5:13 pm
I just discovered Hayden baker a few days ago after Brad paisley talked about him on an interview. They collaborated on an instrumental on Hayden’s last album. Going through his songs, the boys got some serious talent. Love having a new picker to listen to. This new one is awesome as well! Hope he blows up soon.
May 19, 2025 @ 10:14 am
thanks for this playlist, my absolute favoutite .
It seems like Jason Eady has a new song out and it sounds like solid Eady as usual!
May 19, 2025 @ 12:52 pm
I am a huge fan of pug Johnson, he is such a great singer. Had to come here and listen to these songs, because I am so angry at the rock and roll Hall of Fame inductees are. Look at all those country singers… George jones, Willie Nelson, and KT oslin, oh wait their are no country artists in there. Looks like Dolly Parton did not cause a country take over like so many people thought. I don’t care what anyone says Dolly has always been more than just country and she deserves to be in there, anyone else’s opinion is not relevant to me.
May 19, 2025 @ 3:49 pm
I gave 4 a shot. The hayden baker song is awesome, love me some western swing and chandler walters does it just fine. I didnt care for the nathan bannister song, good voice, just didnt like song. Ole 60 was a great song til the part where they keep repeating the same thing, like they ran out of words. I still added it to my playlist but it def could have been better. Not country in the slightest but some of the stuff i listen to falls outside of that sometimes. Good list of songs as usual.
May 19, 2025 @ 6:39 pm
Hey Trig, The new Muscadine Bloodline not make the cut for a review? It’s got some solid tracks.
May 19, 2025 @ 7:20 pm
There are tons of albums constantly being released, and I review as many as I can. The Muscadine Bloodline album is still being considered for review.
May 20, 2025 @ 6:37 am
Trig put Mattie Schell’s new album on his “Most Anticipated Album” list earlier in the year. I’m listening to it now and it is awesome.
Her voice is powerful and the backing musicians are top notch. Music is more Roots than Country.
Come Back To Me is a great song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQqdVHrESfU&list=OLAK5uy_l3SKHF98Y3lmfnrPPd0S6-5a4fp2a-p98&index=3
May 20, 2025 @ 9:19 am
Love the playlist, thanks. Also probably not relevant to the list here but Parker Millsap has a newish EP with a string quintet and Before the Curtain Closes might be one of the prettiest set of sounds I’ve ever heard. Really cool blend of music.
May 22, 2025 @ 4:41 pm
Tanner Laws, “AIM to Please”, was a great find. He has an authentic, real country sound. Looking forward to his next releases as well.