Wyatt Flores boasts the ability to channel roiled and unraveling emotions into coherent and confident songs that become curiously entertaining for such heavy material due to an elevated melodic component.
One of the signs that it’s a new day in country music is how a host performers who started as street buskers, train hoppers, and hitchhikers have now become some of the premier names in genre.
Jelly Roll is America’s favorite feel good story, whether that story is true or not. People want to believe it, because it gives them hope, either in themselves, or in society at large, or both. It’s intoxicating. And so they indulge.
Bob Wills and Western Swing were just as much jazz as they were country, and the same goes for Sweet Meg and ‘Bluer Than Blue.’ It’s boldly and steadfastly traveling back to the ’20s-’40s period, and reviving the era in sound.
They’re Americana anti-stars, working in obscure dialects that sit between the margins of more popular styles, taking up the influences and sounds that have been orphaned by the rest of music and making them feel loved.
Lucky for us, The Franklin County Trucking Company is here to pull this proud tradition out of the ditch, shine up the chrome, tie some steer horns to the grill, and get it tearassing back down the road.
Here we are in a moment in country music custom made for the neotraditional sounds of Midland, and here they are invoking the era in music when folk rock turned into mom rock on the easy listening station.
Billy Strings has taken bluegrass to the arena and beyond. And every time you believe he’s going to abandon the discipline or stretch it too far, he doubles down on his bluegrass roots like he does with “Highway Prayers.”
As self-deprecating and under-the-radar as JP Harris may be, he is no less than a living legend to a lot of the independent country performers in East Nashville and beyond, and to the handful of fervent fans he’s accrued.
Eliza Thorn offers a super tasty, diverse, enriching, and involved album for her official debut that shows off a wide array of influences and talents across a spectrum of roots music, fulfilling the appetite of the audience.
Clearly the death of his father inspired a dramatic recalibration of priorities for Chase Rice, and that is reflected in the songs of this album. It’s definitely more mature and meaningful than his earlier stuff.
‘The Last Frontier’ is quietly genius in its simplicity and efficiency. It feels like the best album that Reckless Kelly could squeeze out of themselves in this season of their career. And it feels like that deserves a slow clap.
She’s Miranda Lambert. And the argument can be made that Postcards from Texas is the most Miranda Lambert album that she’s made in years, swear words and all. This is who she is.
Well deep fry my okra. You want country? You damn well better, and bring your appetite, because Shawna Thompson is serving up heaping helpings of it. There’s no shrinkflation in twang happening here.
Well look at this little duo from Alabama, blowing up on socials, getting a tap on the shoulder by Post Malone to open up on his arena tour, and releasing an album that some are saying is the best all year.
George Strait did his duty, to God, to country, to family, and to country music. He owes us nothing more. Anything else is gravy. Yet he still takes moments to contribute like he does on “Cowboys and Dreamers.”
Pony Bradshaw has made it his personal conquest to reconstruct the romantic notions of the Southern vernacular, and use it to grace music whose audience will spill well beyond the region’s borders.
Ritch Henderson is in touch with some of the most potent inspirations and experiences to allow him sing right from the soul in a way that separates his songs from the massive onslaught of new recorded music.
Hannah Juanita’s “Tennessee Songbird” allows you to fall in love with country music all over again. It’s like a love letter to country music. Press play, and let the waves of classic country twang and goodness wash over you
On her new album ‘Obsessed,’ it feels like Morgan Wade just trying to be Morgan Wade. It’s fair to warn country fans that this is not a country album as much as a singer/songwriter Americana album. It’s also the most Morgan Wade album yet.
The album captures some of Lainey Wilson’s most impassioned and soaring performances of her career. A lot of great songs and writing also grace these 14 tracks. It’s the production of Jay Joyce that’s disappointing.
This ravenesque honky tonk maven comes with a major dose of vintage Western vibes and just a hint of rockabilly to make it all feel dangerous, with songs that are fun, but aren’t afraid to speak to something deeper.
When rounding out the list of the greatest country music singers of our era, you better make sure Josh Turner is at or near the top of your survey or you’re rendering the entire exercise irrelevant and ill-informed.
It was a mixture of surprise, astonishment, and supreme happiness when someone reached out and said that Tony Martinez was finally releasing his debut album. Truth be told, Tony should probably be dead.