It’s no longer just Kenny Chesney. It’s Country Music Hall of Famer Kenny Chesney. And no matter if you feel it was fair, or if you feel it was an indictment on the institution’s standing to elect Chesney, the deed is done.
You’re being warned now. The next couple of weeks are going to be the busiest weeks for cool releases in country and roots in 2026, with a cavalcade of albums coming out that could include some of your favorites of the year.
It seems like everyone wants to be country these days. But none of them can be Brit Taylor. She’s got the songs, the sound, and the voice that’s country through and through. She couldn’t not be country even if she tried.
You better not get caught rattling off the names of insurgent country artists from the great state of Kentucky and omit Brit Taylor. She might be based in Nashville now, but Kentucky bleeds into everything.
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.
“I always knew that, at some point in my career, I’d make a bluegrass album,” Brit Taylor says. “I grew up in the East Kentucky hills surrounded by incredible pickers and listening to bluegrass with my Papaw Hillard.”