Officially Declaring June 20th, 2025 a Country Music Holiday


By the power vested in me by the great seal of Saving Country Music, June 20th, 2025 is officially being declared a country music holiday due to the incredible level and volume of top-anticipated album releases. Every week there might be two or three top records you want to listen to. This week there is a whole gaggle of them. So in the spirit of making sure nothing gets overlooked, here they all are.

P.S., consider this an addendum to The Release Radar that is updated in real-time with ALL the album releases for each week. And if an album being released on June 20th is not included below, feel free to pipe up in the comments section.



Micky and the Motorcars- Self-Titled (Arrives 6-19)

It’s always interesting when a band decides to self-title an album some 25 years into their career. It means they’re looking to make a statement, or stamp a brand, or define themselves. It just happens to be that sometimes it take 25 years for a band to figure out exactly who they are.

We don’t know a lot about this album, except it’s being released unconventionally on a Thursday, it was recorded at least in part at the legendary Arlyn Studios in Austin, and it was produced by the highly-respected David Abeyta, who used to be the guitarist for Micky’s older brother band, Reckless Kelly. This will only be the Motorcars 2nd original album in the last 10 years, so it feels like a big one. Early songs “High Road” and “The Heart is Almost Gone” have been well-received.

James McMurtry – The Black Dog and The Wandering Boy

“James McMurtry” is all that really should need to be said for any music fan worth their salt to immediately pay rapt attention, and await further information. This world-class songwriter’s songwriter is an apex predator of the written word put to song who everyone should have in their musical ethos, and looming large. In this case, the further information it’s that McMurtry is preparing his first album in four years.

“You follow the words where they lead. If you can get a character, maybe you can get a story,” McMurtry explains. “If you can set it to a verse-chorus structure, maybe you can get a song. A song can come from anywhere, but the main inspiration is fear. Specifically fear of irrelevance. If you don’t have songs, you don’t have a record. If you don’t have a record, you don’t have a tour. You gotta keep putting out work.” (read more)

Kelsey Waldon – Every Ghost

The pride of Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky, and a certified Kentucky Colonel, you don’t get much more Kentucky or much more country than Kelsey Waldon, down to the Bill Monroe tilt of her hat. Uncompromising as she is genuine, Waldon has always leaned into her Kentucky roots, but is unfulfilled just scratching the surface with her writing. Instead she fearlessly explores serious subject matter to make herself and her audience feel and think something a little deeper.

You can expect her new album Every Ghost to be no different. Her sixth album overall and latest on John Prine’s Oh Boy Records, the nine-song set is said to address addiction, grief, generational trauma, and the biggest rascal we all must face down: ourselves. (read more)

William Beckmann – Whiskey, Lies, and Alibis

There is one thing that is inarguable about William Beckmann. The South Texas native has a classic country voice that is begging to be heard by the masses. He’s one of those artists where you don’t wonder “if,” but “when” he’ll blow up on the national scene because there is too much talent here for it to be contained on a local or regional scale. His debut major label release Whiskey, Lies, and Alibis might be that “when” moment.

“For me, an album is meant to be a photo album. It’s meant to capture a moment in time, and it’s supposed to last forever,” Beckmann explains. “That’s what I think we were able to do with this record. I’m confident that if I ever get to be an old man, I’ll look back on this and be like, ‘Yeah, we did it right.’”

Lukas Nelson – American Romance

Lukas Nelson announced recently that he was walking away from his long-running project Promise of the Real, and focusing on a solo career. Working with Shooter Jennings as producer, American Romance will be the debut solo effort from Willie Nelson’s son, and arguably the heir to the Nelson musical legacy. It includes collaborations with Stephen Wilson Jr. and Sierra Ferrell.

“This album is the first chapter in a whole new era of my life as an artist,” Lukas Nelson says. “It’s a love story to the country that raised me. Diners and highways that carried me through the joy and pain that led to the music you hear now.”

Charley Pride – Cover Story

Charley Pride is best known for being the standard bearer of iconic classics such as “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” and “Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone.” But he was also cherished as an interpreter of country songs throughout his career. Now here five years after his passing, two iconic tracks never heard before have emerged to grace the Charley Pride catalog, while a whole host of other recordings never released in North America are being compiled into a new album.

Cover Story is set to arrive on June 20th, 2025 with 22 total tracks, including eight songs never released in North America, and Charley Pride’s never-before-heard renditions of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” and “Heartaches By The Number” made popular by Ray Price.

S.G. Goodman – Planting By The Signs (Americana)

This top-level Kentucky songwriter has continued to move farther away from country and roots sounds as time has gone on, and favored more Americana and indie rock-style songs. But her formidable catalog of compositions means that you cannot overlook any of her output. “Space and Time” remains one of the greatest songs of the last decade. The new album features collaborations with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matthew Rowan.

“People are quick to tell you that you are not working hard enough, but slow in telling you that you are working hard enough,” Goodman says. “I found the fire to keep pushing and to make what I believe is my best record yet. ‘Who’ll put the fire out?’ The only person who can put my fire out is myself.”

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Ren Geisick – The Place I Planned To Go – Ren Gesick from California readies this twangy album of all original country songs that’s should not be overlooked. “’The Place I Planned To Go’ is about not giving in to the expectations that so often keep us down in love and in our creative pursuits,” she says.

Grant Maloy Smith – Penny Ballads Smith promises he has a proper new country album coming later this year. But first he wanted to put out a concept album of sorts based off of the old custom of penny ballads. Penny ballads were songs printed on a single piece of paper that were sold widely from the 16th through the 19th century in England and later in colonial America. They were hawked on the streets by people who often performed the songs.

Scotty McCreery – Season Change: Platinum Edition – A deluxe edition of his album originally released in 2018.

The Bones of J.R. Jones – Radio Waves (Americana)

Tawny Ellis – Edge of the World – (Americana)

Mason Jennings – Magnifier (acoustic folk)

Willie Nile – The Great Yellow Light

(6-21) Austin and the In-Laws – Songs of Yearning – A cool-sounding throwback country band from New York with distressed recordings reminiscent of Rattlesnake Milk and other bands that love to instill a faraway feel to their tracks. Songs of Yearning is an album worth exploring.

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