Welcome to the December backlog. My Spotify wrapped clocked at an all time low this year. If it weren't for September's "The Backlog" project, I can't imagine just how much music I would have missed this year. I decided to bring the series back for December. Expect more frequent posts and a strong focus in music reviews this month. We will still have a big end of year post, but odds are it will be mostly reviews until then. I'm thinking it makes more sense to try and theme the review posts. At least in part. For instance, this post will be dedicated to one subgenre that has made a lot of noise this year.
There are a number of big stories that have taken over the world of country music since the pandemic. It remains to be seen what will have a lasting impact. For instance, right about 2015-16, it seemed clear that the number one most influential album/artist/movement was Sam Hunt and his RnB meets hip-hop meets pop-country sound. However with hindsight, it seems that by 2021, for any number of reasons beyond the scope of this introduction, that was no more than a quick fad. Other movements had far more lasting power. Since the pandemic, the sound of country music has incorporated a significant amount of organics. There are many theories and reasons why.
Assuming you subscribe to a great men of history type worldview, it seems pretty clear that the catalyst for change was Zach Bryan. (If you don't like the great men of history theory, then point back to subterranean shifts going back to late 90s alt-country and leading through Hank3 to Sturgill, Tyler and now Zach as the inevitable next step. To each their own.) Zach Bryan's 2022- 2023 run is the most notable moment in the growth of that movement, with 2023 being the year it burst through. Multiple songs from this acoustic based subgenre attained high chart positions, and two songs in this group even hit the number one spot on the Hot 100!
As is the case when a dominant figure pushes a particular sound into the upper echelon, followers are quickly on the tail. All of a sudden, bunches of younger artists who have immersed themselves in this style of sound for the last five years are slowly making their mainstream debut. Not that they signed to labels, but that they are launching fully fleshed albums, marking a transition point from the social media driven acoustic content that got them to this point. Mainstream relevance is not dictated by label deals any more. A buzzy social media artist can easily get just as many streams as a mid tier radio artist.
Certainly, the focus of these artists is the songwriting, and the acoustic nature of their music provides a raw and unadorned context for the songwriting to shine. As these artists move towards a more commercially friendly direction, building on the audience they have built up, they tend to expand their palette to something more. That looks different for each of one of the artists on this list, and provides great fodder for exploration. Each artist provides something different. Let the market decide what it likes!
However, I would not say that this constitutes an abandonment of their prior work. Instead, it is a more complex evolution. As far as the industry is concerned this will seem empty compared to the full lush production style that was in vogue, but this will still have more than just acoustic accompaniment.
There are strong parallels with other movements in music history. For example, when Willie Nelson decided to strip down his sound, cutting out the strings and re-focusing on guitar as the lead instrument, the response from Nashville was befuddlement. To their ears, Nelson was releasing demos. They couldn’t perceive a whole song that didn’t have a string section. That level of what we now think of as overstuffed production was viewed as essential for finishing the song and by intentionally stripping down, Nelson broke the mold and created a new one, not a wholly acoustic mode, but yet one that was more focused on the simpler elements. It still had completion and it shifted our paradigm of proper production forever. It seems this is the direction these artists are heading towards. Heavily acoustic and guitar centric, but with enough around the edges to complete a new vision of what a fully produced song sounds like.
These artists can pull from influences as disparate as Lucero, Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, and Tyler Childers. A new sound is forming in front of our eyes, so take heed of the steps they take. For they may be the sound of the latter half of the 2020s. Perhaps it may fizzle out like Hunt's influence and perhaps it may grow to be dominant like Nelson's influence, but this is the world we are living in here and now.
I personally had not dug all that deeply into this particular sound. I have my biases towards different styles of country music and although I was an outside observer of this sound, I rarely found myself listening to it until I decided to embark on this December project. I found these five artists that seem to be the biggest up-and-comers in this particular subgenre and I decided it would be intriguing to see how they are all handling the adjustment. So buckle up and welcome to the new post Zach Bryan world.
Wyatt Flores- Life Lessons
This almost seems more like a proof of concept rather than an actual project. Namely, how every song almost sounds like it’s from a different artist. Perhaps that’s simply the sound of a young artist searching for identity or maybe one who is consciously stretching himself to find a commercially viable audience. Certainly given his savvy work on TikTok, the latter is a distinct possibility.
What does prove to be consistent, is his ability to write and provide clear and crisp detail, albeit within a somewhat scattered overall focus throughout a short project. This pairs well with a natural ease and comfort in emotionally projecting via his delivery. The cussing may not be needed, but it does fit with the strong energy and presence in presentation.
The thing about this generation of acoustic artists graduating to “real music“, is that it will be interesting to see how they adapt without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It was hard to imagine what Zach Bryan would sound like when he was recording acoustic videos on YouTube five years ago, but he has managed to find a distinct place in the country/Americana world without devolving into generic indie production. Wyatt Flores' EP seems like a good first step for someone who looks to have a bright future. He's not my favorite of this now exploding subgenre. I tend to prefer Sam Barber's approach as we'll discuss soon, but it is very much worthwhile to listen to this short project and keep an eye on this fella.
Dylan Gossett- No Better Time
Gossett is yet another of these up-and-coming acoustic sadboi songwriters that have really been the defining sound of the zeitgeist since the pandemic. Flashes were apparent even beforehand, but it was certainly aided in large part by the pandemic. 2023 was the big breakout year. I generally have a hard time getting into these guys for a few reasons. First, the first iteration of these fellas tended to be rooted in Appalachia and had this near requirement to yelp and excessively talk about Appalachian things like coal. I don’t mind that per se. Obviously Charles Wesley Godwin is one of the preeminent examples of the subgenre and is also one of my favorite artists. However, it generally was difficult to cross cultural lines and digest easily.
Secondly, what some find to be authentic and raw accompaniment too often just sounds boring. If you want poetry, go read a book. Music should have expression and dynamics. All that should be part of telling the story. When people look for this raw authenticity above all else and dismiss advanced accompaniment as being too glossy, they miss the entirety of what music can be when there is a mass synthesis with the instrumentals and the vocals and all that goes into the ideal perfect record. However what is now happening, and what has finally attracted me to the subgenre is that the output is being stretched beyond its original limits and now comes with more musicality. As the subgenre climbs up the commercial ladder, a more nuanced and developed version of the sound evolves into existence. Gossett is firmly of this new breed and as is the case with the others in this post, he is grappling with figuring out what his sound will be once you advance past the acoustic TikTok stage. Certainly a debt of gratitude and a healthy dose of musical inspiration comes from the expected Tyler Childers and Zach Bryan, but instead of stopping there and riding the waves of trends, Gossett and the other successful acts in this arena aim at creating something newer and bigger. Gossett himself doesn't stray as far afield as Flores, nor does he craft something as distinct as Farley. However, he manages to balance the stripped down nature of what brought him attention while still adding interesting and additive production value. Gentle acoustics couple with fiddle in the plaintive Beneath Oak Trees, harmonica blasts anchor the rough-hewn No Better Time. The acoustic picking still is the driving force, but it's played around with on the edges. In a short six song project, sufficient diversity is present that the acoustic guitar doesn't wear thin.
People often don’t realize that Texas music has two distinct veins. There is the Texas honky-tonk super country lane which goes all the way back to Bob Wills and then you have the Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt lane. A more folksy and poetic tradition. Certainly there's crossover between the two, but as it stands, they are two distinctly different traditions. Gossett seems to be falling more into the Guy Clark lane amongst the new crop of Texas artists. Maybe there's a touch of folk pop influence here, but it doesn't seem he's going full on Lumineers or Mumford & Sons anytime soon. He still is chiseling out what will become his final form, but what is hewed out here looks promising.
Sam Barber- Million Eyes
I first covered Sam Barber this year when I reviewed the song Straight and Narrow. Many of the thoughts from that song directly apply to his album. As is the theme of this piece, Barber is yet another one of these up-and-coming acoustic focused, weary singer-songwriter types who are very young and appear to be wise beyond their years. The landscape is already growing so rapidly that over-saturation is imminent. Throwing an iPhone in front of a dude with a guitar, having a crackling fire in the background, and getting yourself a few million hits is no longer a guarantee. Certainly, it’s the first step in the chess game that is finagling a career in music. However, what is important now is how you level up from that first step. Barber may just be more talented than anyone else in this arena. That includes the big gun that I am not going to be talking about here. Yes, even Zach Bryan.
All these artists operate in similar spaces. The claims for "authenticity" all equal. That is part of what makes it so difficult to differentiate between them when they were all limited by the stripped down sound. Barber's weapon in this battle of expansion is his vocal capability. Zach Bryan gets limited the further he goes. Certainly we saw that in contrast with the War and Treaty and Kacey Musgraves. Barber wouldn't have an issue holding pace with artists like those. But it isn't just the pipes, it's what he does with them. The result isn't some Carrie Underwood vocal histrionics. He manages to feel grounded, but yet capable of emoting a great range via his tone and delivery. Barber is inhabiting intense feelings in this project. The deep sense of self-awareness on the title track. The bluesy tone contains the pain implicit in Dancing In The Sky. The personification of Till You Return. Painful realities brought to life through the realistic, yet nostalgic lens of Ghost Town. Already, even on this short project, Barber demonstrates the range of flexibility and emotional conveyance that is the hallmark of an artist with versatility. Any artist can get autobiographical, and if they have a weird enough background, they can pull a lot of good material out of that. But the next step for an artist is going beyond their narrow life experience and telling bigger stories. It isn't easy to do it successfully and in this project, Barber has shown that he has the sonic, vocal, emotional, and lyrical depth to catapult himself into the big leagues. He's my number one favorite of this bunch.
Dayton Farley- Twenty On High
Farley seems to have a little more time under his belt and it shows. He released his first full length full accompaniment album this year, and he definitely seems like he’s already taken a few crucial steps towards a defined direction. Unlike Flores who dabbled in a variety of different sounds as an exploratory step, and unlike Gossett, who is still hewing relatively closely to the acoustic singer songwriter template, Farley has found distinct vision and image for who he is as an artist.
This vision pulls heavily from 90s/00s alt-country with its darker textures, darker topics, and alternative energy. It merges that with the common core of Appalachian country that has been the root for this entire sound. It creates a well balanced mixture that compares favorably to much of the material coming out of the scene. Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of alt-country or alternative rock. I find a lot of the required overbearing angst to be put on. Look, for those that relate deeply to darker sounds and love a more mature perspective this is definitely for you. There's a deep struggle to find oneself. A struggle to find where in the world you lie. Farley aims to define that and put it to song as he brilliantly does in the title track. There's some genuinely jaw-dropping moments of openness and sobering painful discussion that take place on this record, and although I have not looked into Farley as a person, it seems to be coming from a sincere place. Norfolk Blues is a relatable working class dirge that achingly details the foot on the neck of many a factory worker. If Farley himself didn't work in a factory, then he sure does a great job painting the picture.
That album is a lot. It is tough to digest because there is so much there and it’s not necessarily going down easy. For someone that is in a difficult situation, I could see this record going straight to the heart and being something that is connected to deeply. The song How To Feel Again is directly aimed for that crowd. He’s a little further down the evolutionary path then some of the other artists and it seems he's carved out this direction of darker alt country tinged music as his to conquer. Over one million Spotify monthly listeners with his top songs well into double digit millions of streams, so it sure seems to be working. Yes, others on this list have higher (Sam Barber leads the pack with 4.6 million), but they are embracing more wide ranging niches then Farley’s. It's all part of finding your audience.
Evan Honer- West On I-10
So interestingly enough, I first started listening to this record on a speaker, and I did not enjoy Honer’s voice. However, after a few songs, I switched to headphones. Evidently there was a big enough difference in the quality of the audio reproduction because I found myself being all right with his voice. There’s some richness there that was lost at first. Honer has advanced in a more pop friendly direction then his peers in this post. Now this does not mean this is pop- country or honestly even folk-pop. Merely that there’s a sheen and glossiness around the picking and the vocals that suggests high-quality mixing, mastering, and a slightly pop focused production value.
Add that to fluid vocals and this makes Evan Honer a more approachable listen. It almost feels like the midpoint between Noah Kahan and Tyler Childers if that makes any sense. It’s also hard to shake the feeling that twenty years ago, a guy like this would be fronting a pop-punk band out of his parents garage, but I guess that’s the world we live in now.
To my ears, Honer falls in between most of the above artists in every aspect. Dark, but not as dark as Drayton Farley. Stripped down, but not as much as Dylan Gossett. Personality, but not as much as Wyatt Flores. He does have the most poise and polish of the bunch. Sometimes that comes at the expense of emotion, but of course you have moments like Too Far Gone where the emotion comes through in spades. I actually think this very middle of the road approach is a benefit. It doesn't result in a middling result. It's still a well crafted album. It is more lengthy than most on here and he managed to compile a good deal of songs for it, so certainly that hurdle in the growth cycle has been achieved. Importantly, it is well positioned to serve as a good starting point for a listener to enter this scene. Sometimes painting within the lines has a benefit.
My personal ranking of the five may be controversial.
Sam Barber- vocal majesty, emotional capture, clear images.
Dylan Gossett- subdued, soft touch, paints a picture.
Drayton Farley - not my speed, immense technical execution, clear vision.
Evan Honer- well rounded, not much sticks out.
Wyatt Flores- loads of personality, too all over the place.
Hope you enjoyed reading. Much more is coming down the pipe.
Joe