That’s Just Me – Riley Green Written By Adam Delahoussaye
Riley Green has cornered the market on suave, sensual male country music to a point that even his best performances in the field feel like he’s about to sell you mall kiosk cologne. There’s a long list of “getting over you” numbers that can make the sale with half the flair, whereas “That’s Just Me” is just plain overpowering. Even when it tries to understate itself as a means of mixing mystique and sex appeal, any sense of relatability gets hit with a waft of sleazy guitar solos that clear out your sinuses and reinvigorate your sense of alertness. It’s not that Green can’t play the part; songs like “When She Comes Home Tonight” or “Don’t Mind If I Do” display how apt he can be at doing more with less. But when he seems to be hellbent on getting or retaining that spark, the act starts to fall apart. There’s a world where the sweet talk of “Baby let the telephone ring, ’cause it’s just me” isn’t as pushy as this production makes it out to be, but Green just can’t seem to do any convincing when the song is this stuffy and potent. It’s a frenzied attempt at sweet-talking that turns into pestering once that third chorus hits.
5.2
Carry Us Home – Billy Strings Written By Adam Delahoussaye
There are no revving engines or breakneck speed riffs on “So Much For Goodbyes.” In the wake of a monstrous year for Billy Strings both commercially and critically, his latest effort is proof that the bluegrass picker doesn’t need to double down on Deadhead aesthetics or party trick instrumentation to keep our attention. The record, and subsequently its standout “Carry Us Home,” are an exercise for Strings as an orator; it’s especially alluring because its best moments aren’t keen on calling too much attention to themself. Strings’s songwriting doesn’t attach itself too firmly to any sort of narrative, rather flitting between images you’d imagine on an oil painting. The track itself is a world of emotion trapped in a standstill moment. Even as it yearns for some sort of promised land, frozen in grief mixed in with longing for something that may not even exist. Strings has always posited himself as an erratic chauffeur, but here, he feels totally in control even as the current pushes against him. There was never any question about his chops in the field, but his newest outing contributes to his street cred for both bluegrass purists and fans of stellar songwriting. “Carry Us Home” shows how firm his foundation has always been.
8.1
Hollow – Marshmello feat. Cameron Whitcomb Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
Marshmello is already known for his big bass drops and other explosive trap sounds. Now, weaponizing Cameron Whitcomb’s raspy vocals, he’s able to take his brutal sonic attacks to the next level with what is undoubtedly one of the loudest songs of the year so far. Once finding a safe volume level, you will discover that the lyrics are written somewhat “hollow” themselves. The very first lines of the chorus, “when the light goes hollow and burns away tomorrow, at least I’ll always have tonight with you,” are a pretty good example of this, barely getting any point across. In Marsh and Cam’s defense, there isn’t a huge community of people looking for profound meaning in songs of this style. However, if lyrics are not the core element of this song, that leaves the performance and production to take the lead roles, but all they provide here is a scratchy, screaming vocal over Marshmello’s robotic style of artistic expression. Typically, these country DJ experiments aren’t something to get hung up on and can be left behind as harmless missteps in the grand scheme of an artist’s career. In this case, that may be true, as long as you watch the volume knob when skipping over it, or else it might not be so harmless after all…
0.5
Quarter Back – Paige Fish Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
Paige Fish has one of those remarkable voices that can elevate the impact of pretty much any song she sings. Equally raspy and controlled, her delivery is unlike that of any other artist in country music. On her latest single, that strong vocal is the most memorable trait, although there’s lots to enjoy about the actual song’s content itself. “Quarter Back” plays on two different meanings of its title, making a quarter in a jukebox and football imagery work together. The idea is that Fish goes out searching for “a cowboy and a jukebox” far from home. Once she finds those things, she realizes that she still misses her hometown quarterback/ex-lover, wanting her “quarter back.” Combined, these ideas come out a little crammed and forced, working hard to make the play on words effective. Still, there’s a playful element that makes the overall package enjoyable. The cheer in the bridge might not appeal to everyone, but it ties in well with the intended attitude and narrative. Overall, Paige successfully connects the dots, and though she doesn’t provide much meaty, heartfelt songwriting, she’s already proven capable of producing music with more intentional lyricism.
6.3
Too Much of a Woman – Evan Cyote Written By Aishwarya Rajan
Evan Cyote’s “Too Much of a Woman” showcases her deep vibrato that hums like the voice of a siren that could swoon just about anyone. In this track, she reflects on the residual torment left by a man whose whims led him outside of their relationship; exiting with humility and grace likely requires the kind of medicine that words alone can’t fully provide. Yet Cyote, quiver in hand, writes her way through it therapeutically. While most would fall into insecurity, this young artist chooses security, exuding confidence and self-respect as she takes a trait meant to send men running (being “too much”) and turns it into proof that she was too good for him. The track pulls off a rare feat: landing a cheeky backhand, delivered with a delicate finesse. When someone is cheated on, the knee-jerk reaction is often “I wasn’t enough.” Cyote spins that instinct into something empowering: she’s “too much” of a woman to ever be somebody’s other woman, and that’s a strength. Subtle rhyme schemes and high-octave strings wrap the track in a playful shield, while pedal steel and acoustic textures, the very sounds listeners are gravitating toward today, showcase real storytelling charisma from this up-and-comer.
8.1
Clothesline – Dylan Gossett Written By Noah Sneath
Quick quiz: what do Nirvana, Carrie Underwood, The Rolling Stones, Cold War Kids, Florence Road, Metronomy (countless others) and now Dylan Gossett have in common? They’ve all built songs around the same metaphor: comparing the treatment from a lover to being hung out to dry like laundry. “Clothesline” is full of borrowed phrases and tired clichés: “this old heart,” “in the morning you’ll be gone,” “going out trying not to think too much about you,” to name a few. There is no narrative here, just a series of statements that all sort of mean the same thing. Dylan Gossett has proven himself to be a talented writer in the past; “I’ve seen Heaven without dyin’ / Met the Devil without tryin’,” a standout from his most popular song “Coal,” is a clever little couplet. But his music is highly lyric-dependent, and if the lyrics aren’t there, the whole thing can come down like a house of cards. He is not an exceptional singer (not necessarily a bad thing); he is not a world-class guitar player (also not necessarily a bad thing), and his songs usually stick to a handful of chords within a predictable framework (three chords and the truth and all that). For better or worse, Dylan Gossett has set himself up to rely on high-level storytelling to be successful, but unfortunately, “Clothesline” does not deliver.
3.4
Anymore – Gavin Adcock Written By Noah Sneath
Is Gavin Adcock just releasing a new song every week? It sure seems like it. If that’s the plan, then it’s an awfully clever one. The singles from “The Day I Hang It Up” sound like hastily written Notes app entries (that’s a compliment) set to very cleanly-produced 90s grunge music. They are sketches that are satisfying in the way that seeing an unscripted moment from a celebrity or professional athlete is. As country music fans, sometimes all we want is something that feels real. Gavin Adcock clearly is not interested in suspending reality by wrestling over metaphors or dusting off the old thesaurus to find the perfect synonym for love. Instead, more often than not, he chooses his own words over borrowed phrases. His songs typically don’t cover new philosophical ground or describe experiences that are supremely unique, but you can always count on a Gavin Adcock song to have a certain Adcockiness. That is, to say, his songs are almost always in his own words. “Anymore” is full of that Adcockiness (it’s a word now, sorry!). For example, without listening to any of the other new country songs this week, a betting man could confidently wager that they would not find the phrase “another dumb ass text I can’t ignore” in any song but Gavin’s. His energy, his delivery, and his lyrics all continue to contribute to a musical product that stands out each time it’s released. So what will we get next week? It’s kind of fun to wonder.
8.0
Comets – Max McNown Written By Max Buondonno
In an everlasting pursuit of positivity and uplifting anthems, Max McNown soars into the sky to fly with some comets on his latest single. From his forthcoming album, Leave On a Light, the song remains as thematically predictable as most of his songs, this time with a slightly brighter production that relies on more pop-friendly drums than the acoustic accents sprinkled throughout. If you listen to Max McNown and identify as a fan, you know what you’re in for: a simple piece of music that’s unapologetically corny, but does make you feel good when listening to it. McNown’s lyrics try to paint a picture of a feeling in your head rather than tell a story, which meshes well with the airy instrumental. But the heavy reliance on vague references to feelings crowds its ability to say anything memorable, only that you should feel good when flying alongside space rocks. “Ho hey” Americana flourishes are second nature to Max, who seems very content to rely on them as the cornerstone of his projects. In reality, it’s merely noise that warms your ears, and for McNown, that’s about as good as you’ll get.
6.3
The Illusion of Love – Laci Kaye Booth & Lukas Nelson Written By Max Buondonno
Laci Kaye Booth is slowly emerging as one of the most dynamic country artists of this generation. She’s not necessarily trying to straddle the fence as both a pop star and a country artist, can incorporate different cultural influences into her music and make it feel like her own. “The Illusion of Love,” a duet with Lukas Nelson, makes a great case for this point. It’s not a glitzy tale about being a hardass loner, which she’s touched on plenty of times in the past. In this song, she’s the one who can’t understand herself, recognizing her obsession with something that doesn’t make any sense. It’s a tender, emotionally raw single that sounds like an aching heart learned to play the nylon-stringed guitar. Her soft, edgy vocals pair perfectly with the bewitching soundscape, giving it an entirely different feeling from what the rest of her upcoming album has thus far revealed. Booth rarely whisks you away into the deepest parts of her creative world, but she does here, and it pays off tremendously.
8.1
I’m What You Get – Zach John King Written By Max Buondonno
For his debut album, Zach John King felt the need to remind us all of who he is and what he’s about, without feeling inspired beyond listing cliché after cliché. “I’m What You Get,” the project’s titular opening track, makes sure to mention everything King enjoys—doing good by his family? Check. Hang a buck on a wall? Double check. Shoot down some whiskey? Oh hell yeah. But that’s not all! He also tries to humble himself in it, saying he’s simply the product of his environment, as if this were somehow a new chapter of the Gospel that went undiscovered for 2,000 years. King leans on a very modern, almost Sam Hunt-adjacent instrumental that’s neither bombastic nor sets the tone for the rest of the album. It’s anticlimactic in a way that overemphasizes the lazy lyrics. While it’s hard for a lot of artists to avoid a “list song” like this once in a while, it cheapens King’s entrance into the genre as an artist with a full body of music out. If this is what we get from him in the future, it’ll be hard to tell him apart from the other “Fish Hunt Golf Drink”s in the world.
5.6
