Rolling Country 2024

More from the embers of RC '23---thanks, Indexed!

Long-running country blog That Nashville Sound's top albums and songs of 2023
https://thatnashvillesound.blogspot.com/2023/12/that-nashville-sounds-top-country-and_31.html
https://thatnashvillesound.blogspot.com/2023/12/that-nashville-sounds-top-country-and.html

SCM's exhausting rundown:
Album OTY - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-saving-country-music-2023-album-of-the-year/
Album OTY noms - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/saving-country-musics-2023-album-of-the-year-nominees/
Other essential albums - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/saving-country-musics-2023-essential-albums-list/
Mainstream country albums OTY - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-best-mainstream-country-albums-of-2023/
Song OTY - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-saving-country-music-2023-song-of-the-year/
Song OTY noms - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/saving-country-musics-2023-song-of-the-year-nominees/
Single OTY - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-saving-country-music-2023-single-of-the-year/
Artist OTY - https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/saving-country-music-2023-artist-of-the-year/

I like Gabe Lee's voice a lot but that album left me totally cold. Felt like paint by numbers John Mellencamp pastiche to me.

Utterly gutting single from the Nashville Sound list

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruVowvb-YJQ

"I’ve got bruises on my skin and a bite mark on my thigh
From a prince who turned to pauper when the wicked clock struck midnight
I wanted him to like me so that I could like myself
What does it say about me if I let him cross my boundaries"

Hadn't heard of Julie Williams, thanks.

SCM's exhausting rundown

We don't post our year-end roundup until the first week of January; unranked list of 60 best country singles of 2023 is here. Playlist is at the end of the post for those disinclined to read the various essays.

Top 30 country albums of 2023 kicks off here. Again, with a playlist at the bottom of the post.

Had no idea Jaime Wyatt released a new album this year -- thanks!

The traditionalist factions took issue with the change in style on the Wyatt album, but I dug it.

Full list of t30 albums, with a playlist, is live now. Wrote a long essay on Jason Hawk Harris' album.

Thanks! Lots I haven't heard.
Commentary, incl. much by Carlene, on June Carter Cash, re new doc:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/17/june-carter-johnny-cash-documentary-movie
review:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/17/june-review-country-music-legend-who-was-much-more-than-johnny-cashs-wife

Finished listening to everything from 2023 that I wanted to. Here's my rundown...

Albums
AOTY: Margo Cilker - Valley of Heart's Delight (fav track: "I Remember Carolina")

Also Great:
Jess Williamson - Time Ain't Accidental (fav track: see below)
Nick Shoulders - All Bad (fav track: "It's the Best?")
Kelsea Ballerini - Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (fav track: "Mountain with a View")
Pony Bradshaw - North Georgia Rounder (fav track: "Foxfire Wine")
Brennen Leigh - Ain't Through Honky Tonkin Yet (fav track: "Running Out of Hope, Arkansas")
Various Artists - I Am A Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100 (fav track: Nora Brown - "Am I Born to Die")
Charles Wesley Godwin - Family Ties (fav track: "Family Ties")
Bella White - Among Other Things (fav track: "Rhododendron")
Ashley McBryde - The Devil I Know (fav track: "Coldest Beer in Town")
Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan (fav track: "I Remember Everything" feat. Kacey Musgraves)

Solid/Honorable Mention:
Lori McKenna - 1988 (fav track: "Happy Children")
Florry - The Holey Bible (fav track: "Drunk and High")
H.C. McEntire - Every Acre (fav track: "Shadows" feat. SG Goodman)
Megan Maroney - Lucky (fav track: "I'm Not Pretty")
Tyler Childers - Rustin in the Rain (fav track: "Rustin in the Rain")
Turnpike Troubadours - A Cat in the Rain (fav track: "Brought Me")
Drayton Farley - Twenty on High (fav track: "Stop the Clock")
Whitney Rose - Rosie (fav track: "Can't Remember Happiness")
Amanda Fields - What, When and Without (fav track": "2 Steppin'")

Tracks
SOTY: Jess Williamson - "Hunter"

Also Great:
Julie Williams - "The Prince"
Allison Russell - "The Returner"
Aly & AJ - "Blue Dress"
Jordyn Shellhart - "Who Are You Mad At?"
Emily Ann Roberts - "Whole Lotta Little"
Luke Combs - "Fast Car"
Fanny Lumsden - "Millionaire"
Rachel Baiman - "Annie" feat. Erin Rae
Iris DeMent - "Workin on a World"

Solid/Honorable Mention:
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - "Strawberry Woman"
Cody Johnson - "The Painter"
Chris Stapleton - "White Horse"
Molly Tuttle - "El Dorado"
Stephen Wilson Jr. - "American Gothic" feat. Hailey Whitters
Laura Cantrell - "Bide My Time"
Lainey Wilson - "Wildflowers and Wild Horses"
Joy Oladokun - "Sweet Symphony" feat. Chris Stapleton
Gabe Lee - "Drink the River"
Esther Rose - "Chet Baker"
Cory Hanson - "Housefly"
Colter Wall - "Evangelina"
Colby Acuff - "White Western Pines"
Brit Taylor - "No Cowboys"
Jason Eady - "Way Down in Mississippi"
Dean Johnson - "Faraway Skies"
Maren Morris - "Get the Hell Out of Here"
Alex Hall - "Women and Horses" feat. Brandy Clark
Josie Toney - "City Girl Blues"
The Malpass Brothers - "I've Got Her on My Mind Again"
Katie Pruitt - "Blood Related"
Morgan Wallen - "Last Night"

sweet list! thanks for sharing.

Love that Margo Cilker album a lot.

Indexed - not trying to poke holes or anything, but none of the tracks on your album of the year were among your 30ish favorite songs of the year? Just curious if that's really the case or you just kept her off the tracks list or something.

Here (as in my other ILM voting) I try to keep them as wholly separate lists. Anything on my albums list has many tracks that I love; I use the Tracks list to highlight artists whose albums didn't quite hold up for me or who released a great single/EP. There are occasional exceptions where one of my absolute favorite tracks (e.g., "Hunter") has to be mentioned, but I rarely will have more than a couple repeats on my ballots.

Also, missed this track -- should be in my "Also Great" list:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMXI2QzeBHg

Also going to take this opportunity to share this one from my extended Tracks list bc I think it'd be a hit here. Rippin guitar record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuz1vufyMYA

Got it. Thought that might be the case.

At the same time, I could see someone holding the opinion that Cilker's album is terrific because it's full of great songs that are all similarly great - but none that stop you in your tracks or whatever.

But your answer makes more sense. :)

https://wapo.st/47OD392

Brittney Spencer

Ned R mentioned her on Bluesky.

Freelancer Emily Yahr for Washington Post says - Brittney Spencer makes ‘universal’ country music. Nashville’s listening.
In a genre that has historically sidelined Black singers, she broke through with a viral video and a debut album that blends country sensibilities with rock and R&B.

Jon Pareles in NY Times re Sarah Jorosz, Americana singer trying a Nashville pro approach sorta this time--

In modern Nashville, songwriting is often a matter of professionalized co-writing: planned, mix-and-match collaborations by appointment, musicians sharing a room to come up with sturdy material.

It’s a method that Sarah Jarosz had largely shied away from until she made her seventh studio album, “Polaroid Lovers.” The LP, arriving Friday, includes songs she wrote with behind-the-scenes Nashville stalwarts including Jon Randall, Natalie Hemby and the album’s producer, Daniel Tashian, who worked on the country-psychedelia fusion of Kacey Musgraves’s “Golden Hour.”

On “Polaroid Lovers,” Jarosz reaches toward a broader audience while still maintaining her individuality. The songs are more plugged in, muscular and reverberant than her past albums, which were intimate and largely acoustic. But her particular perspective — at once clearheaded, thoughtful, vulnerable and open to desire — comes through.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/arts/music/sarah-jarosz-polaroid-lovers.html

Pareles in NY Times re Jarosz link

Thanks for the heads up, this is a really enjoyable record, plus I see that she is playing here in a couple of weeks.

The Jarosz album isn't my favorite of the year so far-- that's the new Lizzie No, with Willi Carlisle and Randall King not far behind-- but it's awfully good. Other early favorites are the Brittney Spencer, Hannah Kaminer, Colby T Helms, and Chatham County Line.

I liked the Colby T. Helms but holy moly that's the most "sounds like" another artist I've heard in some time. He's going to have to push past his lifetime of listening to Childers somehow.

Just saw hype for the return of Brooks and Dunn, with their 1st album in 12 years - Reboot

Their album titled Reboot came out in 2019? Or is there a "career reboot" album on the way?

reboot rescootin boogie

yep

NEW ALBUM ‘REBOOT’ AVAILABLE NOW
Brooks & Dunn’s collaboration project REBOOT is available now! Click below to buy or stream at your favorite retailer.

LISTEN NOW
https://smarturl.it/brooksdunnreboot

REBOOT – Track List:
1. Brand New Man (with Luke Combs)

2. Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You (with Brett Young)

3. My Next Broken Heart (with Jon Pardi)

4. Neon Moon (with Kacey Musgraves)*

5. Lost and Found (with Tyler Booth)

6. Hard Workin’ Man (with Brothers Osborne)

7. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone (with Ashley McBryde)

8. My Maria (with Thomas Rhett)

9. Red Dirt Road (with Cody Johnson)

10. Boot Scootin’ Boogie (with Midland)

11. Mama Don’t Get Dressed Up For Nothing (with LANCO)

12. Believe (with Kane Brown)

Produced by Dann Huff
*Produced by Dann Huff and Kacey Musgraves
https://www.brooks-dunn.com/brooks-dunn-buckle-up-for-the-reboot-tour-2024/

... Yeah, that's the one that's been out since 2019. Super uneven in terms of the collaborators' pulling their weight.

https://people.com/brooks-and-dunn-announce-reboot-2024-tour-dates-tickets-8547766

From ny Scene ballot comments:

Brooks & Dunn's Reboot is 12 of their hits rerecorded with popular young 'uns, mostly one at a time, except for LANCO (sic, sorry), a man band. Wiki sez their greatest hit was featured on ABC's The Bachelor, and I believe it: this version of "Mama Don't Get Dressed Up For Nothin'" sounds like Hall & Oates wannabees (incl. B&D) making thrift store yacht country with Casio cowbells, but not as well-done as that could be. (Midland's a band too, right? Adding nothing much to "Boot Scoot Boogie," but once again, and as usual on this set, neither do B&D). Programmed beats do signify on "Neon Moon," which is now mostly Kacey Musgraves keenly keening for certainties or at least passing solace---her most and only compelling performance ever, far as I've heard. B&D seem to be living the dying of "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" all over again, or still, and Ashley MacBryde keeps the ballad momentum building, ditto Kane Brown on "Believe." Damn that could have been so blustery, but it's not. Reminds me of my favorite line in "Red Dirt Road, " where they learned that "happiness on Earth was not just for high achievers." Such a relief! Cody Johnson does no harm to that one. Oh, and good, if slightly too long, re-reboot of BW Stevenson's 70s hit, "My Maria," with Thomas Rhett.

saw kacey cover "neon moon" live when she was touring right before golden hour & it was really wonderful, the version that ended up on this album is disappointing overall but especially in comparison

Looks like I thought it was her at her best, but my take on KM has gotten to be more the reverse of most listeners', maybe applying to this track as well.
From Scene ballot comments re 2012:

Kix Brooks' New To This Town brings that well-known early 00s bluesy boogie, Southern Rock as mainstream country thang, plus weekends in Memphis, even "let's put some Otis Redding on" w Cropperesque licks on or leading into the steel guitar. "There's The Sun" is a pool party w the Hi Rhythm Gang (in effect).(Saturday soul sunshine in Kelly Clarkson and Vince Gill's hand-in-hand single, "Don't Rush"; if only their singing was as strong as the groove.) Brooks' title track is like why has no one ever done this before, although it might be risky on a mainstream country album, what will the Chamber of Commerce think of somebody who wishes he was new to this town, cos he's sick of this town, cos he knows it too well, and vice versa. of course because it is mainstream, has to be tied in with a relationship, every street is where they used to walk happy together, and she's still around etc., but that's a good subject too ( could incl they still have the same friends, but that could lead to a sequel). Mostly songs about cutting loose, the other obligatory homefires songs usually fit in better than expected, and the closer, "She Knew I Was A Cowboy", is more affecting than 90 percent of all songs containing the word "cowboy", Ah believe. (no songs about kids, he doesn't push his luck that far). Lots of good video soundtracks here, re what I still think of as the early 00s-type marketing.

Musgrave's "Neon Moon" >>>> B&D's

and I'm not a KM fan

it's a lovely song, km version rules (although I've long overplayed it)

Late honky tonker James Hand got auto-compared to Hank Williams, and the few uptempo tracks on Charley Crockett's trib Ten For Slim can seem Hank Yoakam, in a good way of course, but Crockett def gets Hand's catchy ballads, bringing out a somewhut early-Willie, thus Floyd Tillmanesque, not to mention Gary Stewart, winsome doom (sucks for him, relatable fun for us)---can especially imagine Stewart doing this, although it's unmistakably crunchy Crockett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svlmMjMzheY

Hand's own Master of Depression was the re-titled (for a signature sadcore cutie, done right by Charley), and otherwise slightly tweaked 2022 10th Anniversary Edition of Mighty Lonesome Man(originally and duh-named for one of the few clunkers [as written and unredeemed] on Crocket's alb).
From Scene ballot comments again, here's what I said about the first edition:

James Hand's Mighty Lonesome Man tracks the fine print white line of life's little ups and downs with mighty fine timing--unafraid to venture beyond deft wordplay into details that could easily keep him orbiting in mental and emotional rituals eternally--but 12 items, 34 minutes, as Windows Media Player sums up, hand him off, pass him along in the alone-together jukebox of honky tonk pop (where he can be a-t with Billy Joe Shaver, for instance). Good in the background or foreground; I'm tempted to say he'll be there when you get there--he's a stand-up guy--but whatcha say James? "Let's do it now, before they use a plow, 'cause then I won't be no earthly good to you."

10 for Slim was 2021; 2022 'sJukebox Charley is mostly good-to-amazing, and starts well, with "Make Way For A Better Man." Track Two brings the cuckold's commiseration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtlHw-Z7mFQ

Current fave on Jukebox Charley: "I Hope It Rains At My Funeral"----people don't cover Tom T. Hall much these days, do they?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtlHw-Z7mFQ

Sorry! Here tis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEPkG4A1Z3k

The new Sierra Ferrell single still doesn't capture how good she is live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3FQpE99zCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2W8kCk1qnU

enjoyed that dollar bill bar a fair bit

Lainey Wilson won best country album Grammy for her Bell bottom Country one. It was her first Grammy

.@KaceyMusgraves becomes the first artist in HISTORY to win all four country categories at the #GRAMMYs. pic.twitter.com/c007bKMsfY

— Kacey Musgraves Access (@KaceyAccess) February 6, 2024

Of course she's also got an AOTY award.

One more thing about xetcpost Charley Crockett: on a previous RC, I found myself disappointed by The Man From Waco, which I took as an art project deconstruction/rehash of The Red-Headed Stranger, which I had never actually listened to. You could indeed call Crockett's album a deconstruction--of a revenge killer, or the mindset and possible behavior patterns of someone so inclined---who is also smilin' onstage, an embodiment of "Cowboy Candy" ("I hope I got enough")---always fearful, always travelling, running from and toward, but mainly around and around, to a woodblock beat, in his cage of ritual, connecting and mostly low-key-sliding dots on the map (for instance, he's also "The Man From Atlanta," chasing his gal, or anyway reciting where she was born and grew up and ran off to, as he follows (his tail)---though a sense of context accrues, despite the possibly nonlinear sequence, the variation of production touches from track to track, as well as the settings, the recurrence.
One nice afternoon, for instance, he seems to see her around them ol cottonwood trees, driving that "ol' blue truck---it wadn't much, but she loved it, kinda like she did me": aw shucks---but on this album, the keyword seems to be "drove." She drove the blue truck that wadn't much, and also the narrator who always feels his inadequacies/low ratings---later, long after dark she slides through a brief nightmare in a "Black Sedan."
It's the process of breakage, fear and rage and blood being spilled---he doesn't enjoy it---but he'd rather run and feel all the shit he's been feeling than turn himself in to the shady spooky normcore people--at one point he processes himself into "Tom Turkey," the Dylan song, with some lyrics added by Crockett, but still "Billy you're so far away from home," with his friend Pat Garrett leading the eternal replay posse.
There is no other mention on here of anybody being on anybody's trail. There is a sweet-sounding mention of "July Jackson," "a woman with a couple of kids," and a more successful revenge killer, whose cool incl. statement of self-satisfaction, when questioned before the whole town (no mention of court; is this a lynching?). Not only her husband, the girl he was with turns up dead, this time under merely suspicious circumstances----"but that's not how the paper read." Why wouldn't they try to pin it on her? Is it some kind of cover-up? Did the narrator spot something suspicious anyway? What does he know about it and how? Is this whole songful situation another reverie only? He's gone to "Trinity River" to wash his filth in the dirty water of dreams, he's been pretty up front about that---also to "Horse Thief Mesa," seeking a "Grand Finale." Ha.

Does the ever-frontin' candy cowboy habitually dream all this other, or is it his past, his future, or does the killer dream of being up in lights (and still feeling inadequate/played), or does someone else dream of both?
Crockett kind of undersells, justs suggests all of this, in the course of all these details, and many more, always musical, sliding by: a tad simple-subtle for me, but now I got it and he's got me.

Paramore singer Hayley Williams decried a Tennessee House of Representatives dustup this week where a Republican lawmaker blocked a resolution honoring the Grammy win of Black musician Allison Russell while allowing a similar resolution honoring Paramore to go forward.
...Artists like Russell and Americana Music Association award-winner Margo Price were active participants in protests against the House's April 6, 2023 expulsion of Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis. The pair were expelled for breaking House decorum rules to lead a brief gun reform protest from the chamber floor after the mass shooting at The Covenant School. An effort to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, failed by one vote.

I've been a bit perplexed by my kid's love of Zach Bryan. From my perspective I couldn't figure out why she (and I guess many of her peers) was jibing with this guy's relatively raw downbeat tales of hardship, but then she revealed she thinks of him as someone like Noah Kahan, who I hear as more run of the mill slickly produced singer-songwriter. I was a bit surprised she couldn't or didn't hear a difference. She considers both of them just broadly "folk," but I hear someone like Kahan as more akin to (fellow Bryan collaborator) the Lumineers, just kind of milquetoast and at least seemingly outwardly kinda safe and inauthentic. Anyway, found it interesting.

a whole generation of people just think of them both as "Spotify Roots Music Playlist Music" i think

it's a bummer - no slag on yr daughter, of course. it's just the way kids are coming up.

i have noticed a surge in Reddit posts in recent years that ask "what genre is this?"

Yea kinda , but maybe Jordan S could add more

My pal/hometown hero Adeem is back with what they call "the Gay 90’s Country Bop you didn’t know you needed." Catchy. "He wants a one-night stand/I want a life full of nights with him."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDZFW-uQnBU

https://popcon2024.sched.com/event/1aBzI/will-the-canon-be-unbroken-a-roundtable-on-country-music-criticism

This discussion with Charles Hughes, David Cantwell, Jewly Hight, Justin Hiltner and Moderator RJ Smith took place today at Pop Conference in Los Angeles. I am not there

It's not quite country per se, but anyone who likes what Waxahatchee has been doing the last few years should check out the new Hurray for the Riff Raff record.

definitely seconded. I had never really vibed with the little bit of HFTRR I'd heard before but I'm loving this new one, maybe my favorite of the year so far. and St. Cloud is a top 5 record of the 2020s for me, so yeah, checks out.

saw Zach Bryan last night, never seen a crowd this intense in my decades of going to shows

normally a crowd singing along to every song at top volume would annoy the shit out of me but it was so earnest I kinda loved it

It's not quite country per se, but anyone who likes what Waxahatchee has been doing the last few years should check out the new Hurray for the Riff Raff record.

I will co-sign all of the HftRR endorsements: Haven't been on board with them prior to this record, but it's one of my favorites of the year thus far and is, to my ears, operating well within the country space.

Country Music Hall Of Fame inductions were announced this morning: James Burton as the Musician, John Anderson (!!!) as the Veteran Era pick, and Toby Keith as the Modern Era pick. They made sure to clarify Keith's eligibility, as the voting results had already been tallied prior to his death.

Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but new Rosali is out today and its sounding great. No Medium was one of my favorite albums of 2021.

Mixed feelings about the new Sierra Ferrell. I had mixed feelings about her debut too and I like this one more, but she still lapses into a pastiche sound that doesn’t totally resonate with me.

saw Zach Bryan last night, never seen a crowd this intense in my decades of going to shows

normally a crowd singing along to every song at top volume would annoy the shit out of me but it was so earnest I kinda loved it

― Murgatroid, Monday, March 18, 2024 9:56 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was meant to go a couple weeks ago and came down with a terrible stomach bug just hours before the show and had to bail. The videos my friends sent made me think I may have dodged a bullet. Bryan was barely audible over the fans around my friends, who, while earnest, could not carry a tune. I don't know how this trend started at his shows, but I'm torn between happy for his fans that they've found a communal space to share their love of music and shake-my-fist-at-the-sky-old-man annoyed that you pay $130 to sit in the upper deck of an arena and listen to a bunch of drunk 20-somethings scream over the artist you're ostensibly there to hear. The cynic in me thinks there are people attending these shows who've learned every lyric to every one of his songs so that they can demonstrate to everyone else they're a true fan. The music fan in me absolutely loves that he's inspired that kind of devotion; the kind of deep, repetitive listening required to learn lyrics to that degree has escaped me since high school. I just listen to too much music now to absorb lyrics like that, and I recognize that my cynicism somewhat spawns from this.

Oh no, more musical interest would spoil the primal purity ov his stained class testimony. But whoever else gets something out of it besides him, like mass group therapy/catharsis, good for them.

They're gonna need it, whether Trump's Second Coming goes off as planned or not.

i saw him last summer at a sold out show from the upper deck and... i think judging the quality of a performance vis a vis the surrounding crowd via cell phone video audio might not be the most prudent strategy...

No doubt, but I've never made it all the way through the massive live album either. So far.

tbf my friends also told me directly that they had a hard time enjoying the show. One of them said "I could barely hear Zach."

I had no trouble hearing him, I guess it depends on the volume of the crowd around you and the venue itself etc.

also, he's rotating between playing "I Remember Everything" OR "Something in the Orange" in his setlists on this tour

I deeply respect this kind of self-indulgent "not playing your biggest hit" audience-pleasure withholding but ymmv

it's a puzzling decision bc otherwise, he's such a crowdpleaser (kept on inserting "Toronto" into songs, like it wasn't cute the first time please stop)

I just read a Washington Post review about Bryan's dc show. His stage was shaped like a cross and he wore a t-shirt that said "RIP mainstream media." And lots of communal singing. The article was by a Post staff writer who does not usually write about music.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/03/28/who-is-zach-bryan-concert/

Beyonce is gonna have a song about Linda Martell. I missed this 2020 article about her

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/linda-martell-black-country-grand-ole-opry-pioneer-1050432/

But whoever else gets something out of it besides him, like mass group therapy/catharsis, good for them.

what does this mean

wow that post article is bad

dude...we do not need someone with the influence Zach Bryan has over a generation of 15-25 year olds tearing down the media and/or pointing people toward non-mainstream/fringe outlets. ugh.

i've seen his crowds, i know which direction they'll go. he is a full bottle of fuel on the fire.

I guess I can appreciate pushback on modern male country, but can we get a funky and fun version of the alternative

lol this guy

https://consequence.net/2024/04/morgan-wallen-felony-arrest-throwing-chair/

NY Times and Rolling Stone are excited about 22 years old Oklahoma resident singer songwriter Wyatt Flores

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/arts/music/wyatt-flores-half-life.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLQnU63I3IQ

Sierra Ferrell is playing two sold out shows here next week. Never heard of her, afaict, what's her deal?

She’s a fairly polished vintage/throwback vibe. I don’t love either of her albums all the way through but the new one especially has some strong numbers.

She's right behind, like, Charley Crockett on the Non-Mainstream Country Elevator taking all these artists up to amphitheaters, etc.

She's already big and getting bigger fast. And she's good. Very vintage vibe - jazz, swing, ragtime, fiddle music, maybe some yodeling, or maybe that's just Nick Shoulders. Opening for Zach Bryan this summer, too.

xp agreed -- she's a better performer than songwriter, and I'd love to see her put out an album of like 1/4 originals and 3/4 covers like they used to do it. Long Time Coming is solid though and a good place to start.

She gets by on vibes, which is enough for people of a certain age.

Love her cover of "Years" that she did for that John Anderson tribute album a couple years ago. Imagine her doing an album like Roses in the Snow, mixing traditional tunes, a bluegrass version of something more modern (a la "The Boxer" at the time), a throw back like "You're Gonna Change"...it would be amazing, I'm sure, vibes and all.

checked out the farrell album. i dug her songwriting a good deal. the songs aren't lyrically showy but they're effective, and each song has a line or two that makes me perk up. would've liked it a lot more if it were an 8-track all-killer album, but as y'all said, the rest of it still gets by on vibe.

For those still on board with her, Miranda Lambert's new single, "Wranglers," is set for May 3rd. Written by Audra Mae, Evan McKeever, and Ryan Carpenter; not a Lambert co-write.

"Wranglers is a new single about getting revenge in the best way possible… BURNIN IT DOWN"

I get definite Dolly vibes from Ferrell. She can play it straight down the road but isn't above getting silly and cute either. Watched a CBS Sunday Morning segment on her and her story is like something out of a different time - poverty and pills in West Virginia, followed by riding the rails and busking on street corners throughout the U.S. for several years, a near OD, and then getting discovered in her 30s playing at an American Legion.

With fentanyl and pills flooding communities at the heart of the genre, artists such as Brad Paisley, Elvie Shane, Jaime Wyatt, and others are meeting the crisis in song and in action

BY JEFF GAGE

Here’s what a Rolling Stone magazine writer is excited about

x-post above-- I like some of the Sierra Ferrell cuts i listened to as well

Maybe not what the Stone writer has in mind, but he might well mention it along the way (haven't read that yet):
if this doesn't show, it's Johnny Cash, singing "Committed To Parkview"
http://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=78976dc6be027e16&sca_upv=1&q=johnny+cash+committed+to+parkview&tbm=vid&source=lnms&prmd=vinsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1j5SC7uKFAxVW38kDHckADk0Q0pQJegQICRAB&biw=1094&bih=510&dpr=1.25#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c73237c0,vid:MSjHvue8rgc,st:0

0uddy Miler feat. Lee Ann : "Meds"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnkfK--6Ke4

My liberal niece went to Stagecoach fest and posted an enthusiastic IG story post with a Morgan Wallen and Post Malone duet .

She likes pop emo rock too

SONGWRITER: A NEW ALBUM FROM JOHNNY CASH

In early 1993, the legendary Johnny Cash recorded an album’s worth of songwriting demos he’d written over many years. Some thirty years later, John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash, rediscovered the songs and stripped them back to just Johnny’s powerful, pristine vocals and acoustic guitar. Along with co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, the two invited a handpicked group of musicians that played with Johnny, including guitarist Marty Stuart and the late bassist Dave Roe, along with drummer Pete Abbott and several others, to the Cash Cabin, where Johnny would write, record and relax, to breathe new life into the tracks, taking the sound back to the roots and heart of the songs.

Releasing June 28th, Songwriter features songs written solely by Cash, one of America’s greatest songwriters and storytellers. The 11-track collection will be available digitally, as well as on CD and a variety of vinyl options, including standard black and several limited-edition color variants.

Songwriter’s first single, “Well Alright,” is out now. The track is prime Johnny Cash, harkening back to his ‘50s hits such as “Get Rhythm,” “Five Feet High and Rising,” “Cry! Cry! Cry!” and “Big River.”

Listen to “Well Alright” and pre-order Songwriter now! Discover the tracklist below.

1. Hello Out There
2. Spotlight
3. Drive On
4. I Love You Tonite
5. Have You Ever Been To Little Rock?
6. Well Alright
7. She Sang Sweet Baby James
8. Poor Valley Girl
9. Soldier Boy
10. Sing It Pretty Sue
11. Like A SoldierSONGWRITER (OFFICIAL ALBUM TRAILER)

Discover Songwriter, the new album from Johnny Cash. Features narration from Jamey Johnson.

Psyched for this!

https://x.com/KaitlinButts/status/1787607391124455718

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/kaitlin-butts-red-dirt-roadrunner-album-1235003612/

New Adeem album is out and is good. This song about parenting got me all teary on first go-round. Second go-round too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0YAbaIqa7U

Also got some rockers on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga2IO5zq8dg

Dawn Landes has a new album out called "The Liberated Woman's Songbook":

The album reimagines music from the women’s liberation movement, with songs featured in The Liberated Woman’s Songbook, originally published in 1971. Landes, along with producer Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman, Bob Weir, Cassandra Jenkins) highlights 11 musical stories from the canon of women’s activism, from 1830 to 1970. These messages are just as timely today as they were then.

https://dawnlandesofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-liberated-womans-songbook

I've not kept up with Landes but love her voice and have seen her perform with Hem. Found out about this from Natalie Weiner & Marissa Moss's newsletter:

I have been meaning to spotlight this for weeks — what a wonderful conceit for an album, and so well-executed! I have been thinking a lot about how country/folk artists can tap into the genre's long, well-established radical, progressive songwriting tradition — how thinking about how evergreen those sentiments and ideas are can make them feel even more potent. Landes really delivers here, from both a conceptual and research angle (there are a few familiar chestnuts here, like "Which Side Are You On?", but many are new to me) and a musical one. — NW [Agreed, I love this record - MM]