Release Radar & Most Anticipated Albums for 2nd Half of 2025
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No rest for independent country music fans in the second half of 2025. Some excellent country music projects will be coming at you, and this is your updating guide too get you through it all.
Album Review – Ward Davis – “Black Cats and Crows”
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From growling tracks to get your blood pumping, to some of the easiest country songs to ease into, to songs written with such searing insight you’ll be squeezing back tears, ‘Black Cats and Crows’ may have been inspired by bad luck and worse decisions, but it results in immense measures of good fortune for listeners.
Cody Canada & Cross Canadian Ragweed Tribute Album Coming
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A tribute record to the revolutionary Red Dirt rock country outfit Cross Canadian Ragweed and its frontman Cody Canada is on the way, and it includes a litany of cool artists from Texas and Red Dirt who all paid tribute to the band last winter at the long-running Music Fest in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Vintage Album Review – Doug Supernaw’s “Red & Rio Grande”
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More than anything else, it’s the songs on Doug Supernaw’s debut album ‘Red and Rio Grande’ that makes it to hold up so well now 27 years later. Though Doug only wrote or co-wrote four of the songs, he sure knew how to pick ’em, and some of them went on to be the pick of the litter for early 90’s country.
Steve Earle Tribute to Justin Townes Earle “J.T” Sets Release
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“The record is called J.T. because Justin was never called anything else until he was nearly grown. Well, when he was little, I called him Cowboy,” says Steve Earle. “For better or worse, right or wrong, I loved Justin Townes Earle more than anything else on this earth.
Songwriter Stefanie Joyce Wants To Save the Murder Ballad
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Murder ballads are indelible part of country music history, from the earliest recording from The Carter Family, all the way to today with Ashley McBryde’s latest radio single “Martha Divine.” The roots of murder ballads go back to before country music was a commercial enterprise.
Two Tyler Childers Singles Certified Gold
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In yet another sign (or two) that Tyler Childers has been on a tear and may turn out to be the man who turns the tables on mainstream country, two more singles from his breakout album ‘Purgatory’ released in 2017 have been Certified Gold by the RIAA. They join one of his songs that has already gone Platinum.
Album Review – Chris Stapleton’s “Starting Over”
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Chris Stapleton has always been the most unlikely of superstars. Slightly overweight 36-year-olds with beards and a burly countenance aren’t supposed to be the beneficiaries of the confluence of positive circumstances that powered Stapleton so high into the stratosphere of country music, he’s transcended the genre.
John Prine Had a Porsche 911, and Left It to Sturgill Simpson
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After five decades of paying dues and all that hard work paying off, John Prine decided to treat himself to his dream car—a Porsche 911 Turbo. After John Prine passed away on April 7th, 2020, he bequeathed the car to Sturgill Simpson.
On The Friction Inside Florida Georgia Line
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An Instagram post from Brian Kelley nearly resulted in the greatest fears of Florida Georgia Line fans coming to fruition, and the greatest hopes for many actual country music fans who are often furious at the musical output of the Bro-Country duo.
Merle Haggard Tribute Concert to Finally Be Released
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Unless you were there in person, you missed it. But now we’ll all get the opportunity to see the tribute concert that transpired on April 6th, 2017, when a hefty list of musical talent all assembled at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville to pay tribute to the legendary Merle Haggard.
Doug Supernaw Has Died, But Not Before Finding Redemption
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Doug Supernaw’s tumultuous life was like a country song. It went from obscure beginnings, to superstardom, to a return to anonymity, and eventually a path of new redemption. It has ended now, but not before he found redemption.
Album Review – The Piedmont Boys – “Almost Home”
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When rattling off a list of the most hard charging, unapologetic honky-tonk Outlaw country bands out there who tour until it hurts, don’t know when to quit, and will kick your teeth in with their live show, The Piedmont Boys based out of South Carolina never receive their fair share of recognition.