“…and the Southern rock gods from their perch way on high in country music heaven gazed down through the firmament to behold Taylor Hunnicutt and her debut album Alabama Sound. And they were pleased.”
“Fathers & Sons” is far and away the best-written album of Luke’s career. It’s also far and away the most country-sounding album of his career. Poignant, purposeful, heartfelt, and graced by perfect timing…
They may not know him from Adam out on Music Row in Nashville. But in West Texas and parts adjacent, Red Shahan is considered a cult hero, a cooler cat than most, and a songwriter’s songwriter.
With an uncommon adherence to country sounds for a contemporary popular artist, and bolstered by reams of clever songwriting and spirited performances, Carly Pearce turns in an inspired and compelling album.
Jesse Daniel brings a loaded down Peterbilt’s worth of full-tilt twang to this one, and puts all worries about “wHaT’s HAppeNeD To TOdAyS COunTRY mUsIc!” to bed. You want country music? Listen to Jesse Daniel.
Willie Nelson continues to mesmerize with the confidence of his delivery and the exploration of his aged, but character-laden voice. By exploiting the near century we have with Willie, it sounds like we’re listening to a deity.
Yes, yes, and yes. Finally we have a Swamp Dogg album that fits in the country music world. It’s bluegrass. It’s “blackgrass” if you will. And it’s also decidedly a Swamp Dogg album, which means it’s all served with offbeat weirdness.
Years ago an up-and-comer like Jayce Turley would be lucky to cause a stir locally in Kentucky. Now this is the sound folks crave. But it’s only native to a few distinct voices. One of those voices is Jayce Turley.
Taking a quick detour from her towering albums of original songs, the “Pearl of Kentucky Country Music” Kelsey Waldon stops down to leave behind some signature versions of her most favored songs.
If you’re looking for some hard-charging, hard-twangin’, old-fashioned truck drivin’ honky tonk music, Bo Outlaw and Løiten Twang Depot kick in like a handful of truck stop Mini Thins with “Bars – Brunettes – Big Rigs.”
For many listeners, this is exactly what they think of when they think “country music,” and hearing a young man like Alex Key sing these songs doesn’t just fill the ears with favorable sounds, it fills the spirit.
This is the moment for artists like Scotty McCreery to step up and take advantage of the music opening up and sounding more country. It’s the moment he’s been waiting his whole career for.
Hearkening back to a time when country sounded country, and singers were required to come with a distinctive sound, Emily Nenni has released a fun, infectious, twangy, diverse, and career-defining album.
“Easin’ On” is not just another country album. Meech finds an interesting moment in country history to be inspired from, and turns in something different than everything else you will hear in 2024.
Alright. So it goes without saying that this really isn’t a “good” song, and that it’s not especially “country” either, aside from a few tokenary and surface inferences. But regardless, according to Billboard, it’s the #1 song in country.
“Half Life” might be marked by ruminations on the inherent mortality of carbon-based life we all must reckon with, but the future is bright and sky is the limit of where Wyatt Flores can take this music.
Crockett may have made it to the top, but his new album $10 Cowboy isn’t about where he’s at. It’s about how he got here, the struggles he incurred, the setbacks he overcame, the perseverance he had to exhibit.
You don’t really need a conventional album review to help navigate you through or understand Ernest’s 26-song treatise, Nashville, Tennessee. What you need is a road map, a sherpa, someone to point your nose in the right direction.
Steel your emotional equilibrium for the roller coaster of stimulus you’ll experience listening to this four-song gem that combines the songwriting prowess of Midwest musical superhero Joe Stamm and Charles Wesley Godwin’s band.
‘Revelations’ by Sarah Shook and the Disarmers will wrap you in the warm embrace of electric and angry underground country, while also serving it up through curiously infectious melodic prowess.
“Deeper Well” might have a few more memorable songs and mark a return to a more organic sound for Musgraves, but that “something’s missing” feeling persists. It seems to be marked by boredom.
Music might be marked by the presence of sound, but it’s the music of John Moreland that compels the hushing of everything else to allow the quietest and most reflective of moments to prevail.
There is perhaps no better sign of the country resurgence than the surging popularity of 25-year-old Zach Top. His music has caught fire like he’s the next new thing, even though his sound is older than he is.
You better make room on your record shelf or playlist because ‘Sweethearts Only’ is coming in hot, and will be demanding your attention like a hyperactive dachshund with detachment anxiety for months to come.