Highway Man – Silverada Written By Adam Delahoussaye
The true traveling country band is a rare find these days. Where most stars of the modern era are thrust from bedroom outtakes to ballroom stages in a matter of months, filling in the gaps as they go, Silverada is still keen on cutting their teeth the old-fashioned way. Their newest single is a calling card, or a word of warning, for those who still wish to walk their line as they do. “Highway Man,” a breezy sunset stroll down I-90 or an early morning backroad saunter, puts the rules of the road front and center over the low whoosh of Catlin Rutherford’s chords and Parker Twomey’s light brush of the ivories. With the dew barely settled, frontman Mike Harmeier reflects on all the ink he’s sweated out and amps he’s blasted through chasing that new frontier that’s always just over the horizon. The band is constantly in conversation with their outlaw forefathers, and this track echoes the existential, self-imposed isolation that Waylon and Willie were constantly crooning about when they were putting rubber to the road in their heyday. For all of their rug-cutting and barn burning, seeing this Texas staple take a step back and a critical look at their “seven towns in seven nights ” lifestyle feels like a hot shower where you watch the grime swirl down the drain, and a hard reset into something a little more contemplative for the group moving forward. It’s good to know that there’s still a band out there that walks the walk and doesn’t pull punches when it’s time to open up about it.
7.5
Country And She Knows It – Luke Bryan Written By Adam Delahoussaye
At least once a quarter, someone on Music Row unwittingly stumbles into an imitation of Bo Burnham’s classic musical comedy bit about country music. The song and dance usually entails rural nouns and stale adjectives placed over twangy guitar chords, all coming from a guy wearing boots worth more than your car. It’s an eternally familiar flavor, but you’d be forgiven for mistaking “Country And She Knows It” for any of its dozens of equally undefined sister songs. In his late-stage career, Luke Bryan has been known to unconsciously perform the bare bones of the joke with complete seriousness, and his newest single is maybe his worst offender yet. With a laundry list of character traits and fashion choices that could describe most women who hang out at gas stations or Walmart parking lots in small towns across Georgia, Bryan is equipped with all the tools necessary to have the blanket statement ballad of the century on his hands. The only problem? Bryan reads through these character descriptors like they’re bingo numbers, and his washed-out and gussied-up arrangement isn’t helping anyone’s case. At best, “Country And She Knows It” is lowest-common-denominator country music. At worst, and in reality, it’s a pandering insult to the taste of radio listeners everywhere and a testament to how out of touch Bryan has become.
3.8
In My Truck – BRELAND Written By Max Buondonno
Here’s an important question artists should be asking themselves before they step foot in a recording studio: “Even if you have the technology to sample a song, does that automatically mean you should do it?” Sometimes, it works as a way to breathe new life into someone else’s creation and let it see the light of day again. Other times, the resulting song can spit in the face of the original and make a mockery of what came before. BRELAND’s latest song, “In My Truck,” falls squarely into the latter category. Similar to how Morgan Wallen disrespected Keith Whitley on “Miami,” BRELAND has decided it’s time to disfigure 50 Cent’s “In Da Club,” taking its signature hook and fluffing it out as a dormant song about partying. Between its production and BRELAND’s mediocre vocals, the song almost feels like a song Florida Georgia Line would’ve conceived of back in the day, but quickly realized it’s a bad idea before it went too far. “In My Truck” is perhaps the least imaginative thing you can do with sample clearance from 50 Cent and Dr. Dre. Picture it: you ask them permission to use the song, they say yes, and you proceed to make a song that sounds like every club in the Western hemisphere has a restraining order against it. It’s the lazy interpolation of 50 Cent’s melodies and flows, soaked in country cliches that feel as lazy as they are tiresome, and BRELAND fails to deliver the same energy and cadence as the original track, sucking the life out of the party like a black hole. How you could even sample “In Da Club” and make it interesting or innovative is a mystery in itself, but “In My Truck” is about the worst you can do.
0.8
BREAKUP (DOWN) – Graham Barham Written By Max Buondonno
Nostalgia-bait is among the cheapest tricks in the book to get someone to listen to your song, but Graham Barham seems willing to do anything for TikTok views and Spotify streams. An interpolation of “Down” by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne, “BREAKUP (DOWN)” is the latest in a long string of autotune-infected, over-engineered slopfests that have sounded like anything but remotely country. Besides themes of drowning your sorrows in whiskey and regretting how you treated your ex, Barham shows how you can take an already mediocre hip-hop/pop record from the early 2000s and somehow make it worse. The first verse’s resemblance to Jay Sean’s original song is a cheap way to hook you in, and if you somehow make it to the chorus, you’ll be met by my egregious vocals that screech at any volume you set your speakers to. The utter chaos of the production sounds like Barham just discovered Pro Tools for the first time and had a little too much fun messing with the built-in loops. By the end of it, you’ll find yourself listening to the original “Down” to remind yourself that the arrangement wasn’t all that bad; Graham Barham just ruined it for you. Yes, this will generate more TikTok views, which seems to be Barham’s ultimate goal, not just in music, but in life. Maybe it’s time to leverage that and become a brand ambassador for meal prep kits or something, anything, so that he doesn’t have to keep hitting the studio.
0.4
Feet On Fire – Ben Chapman Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
Within six minutes and forty-five seconds, Ben Chapman’s new song seizes the mind, pulls at the heart, and demands the full attention of listeners willing to meet it at its depth. Like a furnace, radiating intense emotional heat, the track explores themes of agony and acceptance, tracing the unraveling of a strained love as he portrays a lover bound for the road with “feet on fire.” Crying “You’ve been leaving since you got here… Dreaming of dusk at dawn,” Chapman renders his clarity with a striking sense of calm, while the melodies and chords behind him wrap the mix in that same restless tension. Especially in the solo section, the song stretches beyond the boundaries of a standard heartbreak anthem, allowing its weight to settle fully. The length and slow-rock elements are truly essential to that effect; in Chapman’s world, spending nearly twice the time of a typical radio-leaning country song, the listener is drawn into a slow, immersive realization of his intent, where every note feels earned and every emotion is fully lived in. Already respected by his fans for his musical prowess, “Feet On Fire” marks a bold stride, revealing a deeper, more refined dimension of Chapman’s artistry.
9.5
xs – Ashley Cooke Written By Joel Reuben Pauley
As a modern country artist aiming for mainstream appeal, Ashley Cooke’s “xs” checks every box. Clever and sonically pleasing, the new single is everything a radio hit should be. Melodically, it feels like a blend of classic Lady A and Megan Moroney. Cooke sounds like the main character, strong and confident, with every instrument adding a similar sonic sturdiness. Written about a cheating boyfriend, she presents her perspective with grounded assurance, setting her boundaries and stating her feelings without bitterness, keeping the tone sharp and intentional. Where other popular artists might spin similar stories into public shaming, Ashley plainly addresses her points in a direct one-on-one format, making them feel far more accessible and relatable. In terms of production, “xs” sounds bigger than her previous work, stepping into a brighter spotlight with a fuller, grittier arrangement that will likely resonate with new listeners. Above all, the impact of this release comes from its mature, evolved sound, while the lyrics serve their purpose with simple excellence.
8.6
Me Neither – Ty Myers Written By Aishwarya Rajan
Every so often, an artist swoops into the country scene off the beaten path. Instead of paying tribute to their folk figures or bluegrass buddies, they inhabit an artistry neither here nor there. However, as the genre expands to incorporate its peers, blues undercurrents are bound to resurface. Enriching your eardrums with shuffling grooves that tell a melodramatic romance-saga is Ty Myer’s “Me Neither.” Its songwriting epitomizes the meaning of ‘heavy on the soul’ with honest, love-drunk one-liners such as “You could call me a man who’s in love or just the remnants of the man I was before I knew about you.” He expresses tension between wanting someone deeply, while saying just the opposite in the next stanza. Perhaps even grander is the song’s delivery. Myers captures the smooth, bluesy essence of John Mayer’s 2017 album The Search for Everything. He indulges in a cascade of electric guitar notes that vibrate across the song’s being, alongside the echoing pull of mild pedal steel melodies. Underpinned by flickers of smooth organ notes, this interplay feels like a remedy for harsh memories warbled about by Myers. It’s a construct that enables a song to live outside of mere lyricism. Something that can be truly felt in one’s soul.
9.0
Deep Blue – ERNEST Written By Aishwarya Rajan
A message to “Lorelei”: As listeners, we’re thankful for your services of being sacrificed for the sake of yacht-rock. You’ve brought ERNEST and his listeners “Deep Blue,” a new single that casts a different light on the same irresistible elements that made “Classic” so wonderfully addicting. As if floating on the same breeze as ERNEST, listeners are taken through sounds of a fiddle that lie between subtle movements of ballroom execution and more bluegrass country progressions. In fact, these embellishments could just as easily be mistaken for a Flatland Cavalry track. If there were ever an artist who could deftly unite deeply meaningful lyrics with playful storytelling, ERNEST almost nails it. Unlike many of his peers’ attempts, ERNEST proves that sun-soaked, speaker-bumping boat music can still be thoughtful. Switching within a line between an ocean metaphor and a ruined relationship, a fiddle and pedal steel echo his tender lament, rising and falling in the same vein. That is, until the chorus, where sweet guitar chords and drum beats flood the listener’s ears as though they, too, have flip-flops in tow, with the “deep blue” below. Maybe this new track reveals a truth: country music has a new yacht-rock king. While it’s true that every king needs a queen, ERNEST’s lingering affection for ‘Lorelei’ suggests he’s still holding onto the wrong one. A woman who “always wanted [him] to drown anyway” was never a queen worth keeping.
8.8
