Watson Twins- Holler
neotrad/ modern country/Americana
Family or "blood" harmony has a long history in country music. The Watson twins have this in spades and it serves them well on Holler. Their vocals mix and meld into a potpourrie of musical magic, elevating the already outstanding material into something more ethereal and more. There is energy in spades (see the blues influence rise to the surface on Never Be Another You, or the two stepping jauntiness of Two Timin'). The twins material has always skirted the murky boundaries between indie folk, Americana, and country. This album steps firmly over the line into the real of quality old school country. Honestly, it's energy like this, delivered in a tight compact package that makes this such a listenable and repeatable experience.
Ashley Cooke- Shot In The Dark
modern country/country rock/pop country
Now the exact opposite of tight, is Ashley Cooke's monstrous twenty four track debut record. Given my preference for shorter projects, I was expecting this to be a flop. I was surprised to hear that it actually was quite solid. I wouldn't say it needed the length to serve as a proper introduction to Ashley, but it didn't hurt. The duets sprinkled throughout the project broke things up nicely and even when paired next to more experienced voices, Cooke holds her own. Impressive for a Tiktok driven, low 20s rookie artist. Virality often doesn't translate into full length projects, and Cooke manages to sidestep that issue by having a strong team at Big Loud that brings a professionalism to the instrumental side of the game, but allows her the space to be the primary writer on nearly all the record. That is how you get surprisingly endearing songs like state i'm in that detail the very real realities of the early stages of adulthood, when your life decisions start to have ramifications and everyone starts to go their own seperateimg ways. Chalk me up as intrigued about the future for this one. There's a lot of potential here.
Jason Eady- Mississippi
country/blues/ singer- songwriter
A relaxing bluesy turn from the consistent Mississippi meets Texas wordsmith. Eady should be higher profile. He brings a seasoned and warm tone to task at summoning homespun Mississippi country blues. It’s a turn from his typical country singer songwriter fare. The bluesy rollick adds punch and muscle to the lower profile Eady signature style. A greatly enjoyable listen. Lighter lyrically than what I was expecting but still sufficient to not detract from the vibe. No French Summer Sun to be found here unfortunately. I particularly enjoyed the gospel flair of Way Down In Mississippi and the choral touches in New Tradition. Whistle provides some rockabilly-esque groove which does a good deal in stretching the album and adding some diversity. Eady’s tone doesn’t shift much throughout, so variety is needed. Misty is a great closer track. Wistful and charming.
Sundy Best- Feel Good Country
appalachian/folk/ country
Now this is the kind of music that resonates with me. Cheerful, positive, upbeat and authentic. Sundy Best is an Appalachian group and unlike the usual misery and depression that Appalachian artists provide in spades, Sundy Best takes the glass half full route and focuses on appreciating the small things in life. Ignoring the red herring of an opener track (wherein you'd be convinced that this was some nineties boom bap hip hop meets kitschy Appalachia project) the albums hews pretty closely the established Appalachian sound. Just subtract the woe is me wailing and insert cheerful positivity. It's a heck of a lot of fun. Instead of bemoaning the small town movie theater closing as a sign of the town dying, the town is simply being rearranged and they still always look foward to coming home by taking the road that is Winding Through The Woods. The day is greeting you down? Well, I Won't Be Bothered. Life has complicated twists and turns? Be reassured and Walk By Faith. In a world where sad songs seem to be the norm, and everyone is depressed and/or full of anxiety, Feel Good Country does exactly that. It feels good.
Summer Dean- The Biggest Life
neovintage/Nashville sound/neotraditional
We've covered Dean before on here. Her story is quite unusual for a female country singer. Only starting her career in her late thirties, after being a schoolteacher and a cattle rancher, Dean has a unique perspective. She chooses to couch that in gorgeous neo vintage arrangements that perfectly straddle the delicate line between camp and authentic retro expression. If it were five percent more retro, it would have came off as too much. I loved songs like Bailing Wire which give a sense of realness to the mundane that you typically never even think about. Sherlock Holmes said that most see, but do not observe. Dean observes, and then manages to beautifully communicate what she observed to open the eyes of us that merely see. It is a slower moving project but not in a way that makes you lose focus. More in the languid ease of a slow summer Sunday morning. Charming and winsome. Yet another great neovintage project this year.
Jake Worthington- Self Titled
neotraditional
Well this was unexpected! I don't think this is going to be the project that "brings country back". But it certainly is an enjoyable listen. I greatly enjoy those 90's sounds, and Worthington clearly does as well. He has this Mark Chestnut meets Tracy Lawrence sound to him and it is impeccable. There's a tongue in cheek wit that pops in throughout the record and that adds a needed dash of difference making because as you might expect, this album gets a little monotonous. Those old records were tight. Ten songs, thirty minutes. You didn't need to switch things up a tremendous amount to keep listeners engaged. (Also, you couldn't really skip tracks on a cassette so the whole way we thought about music was different.) This album is of a modern length and the length does not suit it. It isn't terribly long, but at thirteen tracks and nearly fifty minutes long, it overstays the welcome. The singles are fantastic though. The albums strongest moments are on ballads. For as much as people love the honky tonk bangers, modern ears prefer more thump and rhythm. It's the old school ballads that really still have resonance, at least from what I see. State You Left Me In, Ain't Got You To Hold, She Ain't You, and Closing Time are my favorites. Warm, chocolatey, dripping with lonesome steel and plaintive fiddle. It's a neotraditional fans utopia. Shoutout to Pop Goes The Whiskey for sheer entertainment value. Ernest and Jake Worthington both have shown us that Big Loud supports artists going after their own sound, not necessarily what is the most popular. It bodes well for Charles Wesley Godwin's future with the label.
Robert Ellis- Yesterdays News
Singer-songwriter/folk
Chalk this one up to my personal taste. In my eyes, the easy criticism of cliche ridden same-ness lobbed at Nashville from the independant scene, although valid, conceals a veiled truth. Indie country has its own set of cliches. Whether that's the seeming requirement of endless wailing over coal in Appalachian country, or the east Nashville insistence on ancient sounding percussion with no thump behind it or the refusal to bend to modern times and update the metaphors and references (unless you are Charlie Crockett, no one has "ridden the trains". Like honestly when was the last time you ever even saw someone trying to hitchhike anywhere? I'm not saying you need to go all Cole Swindell white claw with the modern references, but you could throw in a metaphor or a line that doesn't make you sound like a grandpa regaling his descendants with stories of the good old days.) All of this is to say that despite the incredible songwriting of Robert Ellis and all the genuine talent that went in to creating this album, I just couldn't get through it. It bored me. As a fan, no big deal. As a critic, I guess I'm sorry? I'm sure other outlets have more to say about the record.
Parker McCollum- Never Enough
country rock/modern country/ neotraditional
I didn’t like Gold Chain Cowboy. To my ears, it sounded stripped of anything unique and turned Parker into just another bland, white, baseball cap wearing, radio dude. Never Enough turns the dial back a drop and incorporates some of that older Parker sound into the mix. It makes for a much more varied and refreshed listen. The sound is no longer amorphous. It feels rooted and connected. Still fresh and with that rock edge listeners expected, but you can hear how this evolved from artists like Randy Rogers and others who were Mccollums forbearors in Texas country. Of course the bigger swings on lyrical content and the added maturity Mcollum developed over the years enhances things further. Songs like Handle on you, Tails I Lose, Speed and Tales From An Old Man all are exemplary in conveying their differing messages cohesively and with sufficient detail to not meld into each other. It provides a needed growth step, as well as a reset with focus on what worked in the past. The result is a fresher and more multifaceted album than his first swing in Nashville. The hype is reinvigorated. Let’s hope he didn’t waste his moment and can still capitalize on his viral fame from a few years back.
Lori McKenna- 1988
singer songwriter/folk/americana
Can any more ink be spilled singing the praises of probably the iconic songwriter of our generation? For the uninitiated, Lori McKenna is the premier songwriter behind some of the most conic songs of the past decade. She is no slouch as a singer herself. Her solo projects appear on year end lists with regularity. 1988 is perhaps her most piercing album yet, touching on personal themes of love as well as opening up an eye to the environments in which our lives are fostered. Topics like addiction are explored in a detailed, caring and sympathetic manner, never losing the gravity of the topic (Wonder Drug), death and loss is explored in poignant fashion. The title track is a wonderful slice of life reflection on her marriage- 1988 being the year of the nuptials. McKenna paints with a deft but delicate hand all throughout. The rooted and organic instrumentation never gets in the way, only enhances. A worthy successor to her growing streak of must listen to albums.
Lukas Nelson and the POTR- Sticks and Stones
country/country rock/blues
So I touched on this project slightly in one of the single reviews this month, but the album has so much to offer aside from that high profile single. Lukas Nelson has been in the shadow of his father his whole life. When you listen to him, you certainly hear the Nelson vocals but importantly, Lucas seems to have significantly more modern musical influence and that's a needed difference maker. Obviously there's country, but you have Tom Petty- esque rock influence, there’s blues, honky-tonk, funk etc. It all fuses into a groove heavy and lyrically deep mixture of delightful music. Each song is crafted with the best environment for that song. On Alcoholelujah you naturally have gospel touches. On Ladder Of Love you have this instrumental ascension that gives a visceral feeling of climbing, as if it where a ladder. Similarly, in spite of the bands exceptional capabilities, it is understood when to tone things down. Take the song Lying which requires a vocally focused and stripped down sound to make the listener feel the gravitas and message of the song. In spite of Nelson's grainy vocal,his voice rises to the occasion on this track and it’s make Lying into one of many notable examples of the diversity of this record.
Jake Owen- Loose Cannon
modern country/ beach country/pop country
I could see this take being unpopular. Oh well. Jake Owen has a chameleon like aspect to him. Close your eyes and try to tell me exactly what kind of artist he is. Beach? Bro? Rock? Pop? The answer is he is all of those. It just depends on the album. Some may explain that as him trying to approach his fans in the most relatable way possible. Eh, to me it just smacks of insincerity. The overly thick accent that disappears whenever he gets out of the studio doesn’t help. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t make good music. He has an ear for melody and a charming presence behind a microphone. I’ve found most of his output to be varied, shallow, but enjoyable overall. That’s in part why it pains me to report the details of this latest album. It seems Jake has had some issues. His adjustment to Big Loud maybe not as easy at it seemed coming off the smash success of Greetings From…Jake. Aborted singles and unclear artistic direction made for an interesting journey and more doubt than you’d expect for a guy with such brand name clout like Owen. This album felt like it needed to hit and it really didn’t. It’s breezy and lightweight to a fault. The only stab at serious storytelling is a one off line about a miscarriage in an otherwise lightweight teenage romance recollection. Such tonal whiplash. This whole project felt like leftovers of the (admittedly excellent) Ernest album arranged in the most anodyne way possible. Plenty of nice organic sound with nothing offensive about it. Not much identifiable or unique either. Perhaps they were hoping that Owen would uplift the material, but I don’t know man, it was just disappointing to listen to. He felt flatter and less involved than older material. I get that’s subjective but I couldn’t rid myself of that thought when listening through it. Maybe it’s because I didn’t listen to it in the peak of summer when it was clearly intended as a beachy vacation record, but the vibes just weren’t there. Good thing about Big Loud is they seem willing to pivot quickly so who knows where Jake goes next.
Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen- Hold My Beer pt. 3
Texas country/ neotraditional/ country rock
An underbaked, but wholesome slice of the upbeat Texas country pie that Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen have made long careers from. I particularly enjoyed their two team up projects. Hold My Beer part three is unfortunately not a whole album and instead is a shorter EP. Pity, because in the past we’ve seen just how much riotous fun can be had by giving these guys as much space as possible to play out their tongue-in-cheek shenanigans. Said shenanigans are on full display, kicking things off with the barn stomping Shooting Hand. The themes of maturation and camaraderie that have always been part of this series get a focus as well. As the artists age into their roles as leading Texas country statesmen, the mature undertones fit even better. I think it felt more tempered than their previous attempts at this charming and frolicking duet project. Maybe the shorter space meant the more far out ideas didn’t make it past the cutting floor. There’s no Rodeo Clown here. It could have used it. Dunno. Loved it, but will probably go back to the older ones more.
Adam Hood- Adam Hood's Different Groove
southern rock/country blues/ country rock
Adam Hood follows up on last year‘s excellent Bad Days Better. With a straightforward a d sedate southern rock album it falls into this growing category of country adjacent Southern rock infused projects that don’t attempt to replicate the wild excess of the genre at its most reckless, but instead fuse it with a more downtempo, slow, southern, and country take. In that vein, it works, I guess. Hood has a fine voice. It is similar to Drake White without the bombast. Hood is also a very nice writer, generallly having a mature seasoned take that pulls more from elder wisdom than youthful abandon. To me, therein lies the flaw of the record. With the energy of rock neutered to fit the message, the whole thing comes off as restricted. Perhaps if other genre trappings were introduced that lent itself to balladry, like RnB, or if a more folksy approach was added for gravitas, then the overall entity would sound more apropos of itself. Moreover, Hood, although a technically capable singer (and I should stress, everything on this project is done super professionally and capably. The execution is flawless), has a very monochromatic texture throughout the entire album. It ends up falling on the writing to be the real differentiator. Jury is out on if it does, but to my ears it struggled to capture me. Obviously, this is very subjective and if you are a fan of this general take on southern rock, then it will probably work for you.
Elle King- Come Get Your Wife
country rock/ country blues/ modern country
This is how an outsider approaches the genre. Not with a boisterous disruptive attitude, but with a clear eyed idea of what and why and how they are going to approach it. King has a background in rock and pop, and has worked hard to cultivate connections in country music. This isn't just some Hollywood dalliance either. King seems genuinely connected to the scene, her cover of the early career Tyler Childers gem Jersey Giant affirming her connection to the scene as a whole and not just the buzzy cosmopolitan Nashville scene. Her husky bluesy tone works wonders in the raucus world of thoughtful country rock that this album draws inside the lines of. It doesn't push borders sonically, more so carefully establishes her presence within, and allows her strong personality to shine through. A welcome addition to the country music world, Elle King even demonstrates some bluegrass acumen on tracks like Crawling Mood and that elevates her to not just one of the pack, but one who is a positive contributer to the growing organic and homespun moment happening in the genre. Aside from Drunk And I Wanna Go Home, that is. That's a 2009 prime Katy Perry song with a drop of banjo masquerading as a country song. It's catchy as heck though, and with Miranda Lambert's co-sign, seems to have mostly escaped the purist rage. Given the remainder of the content of the album, it seems more a one off designed for radio success than something indicative of the actual direction King wants to take her country career.
Hope you enjoyed.
This stretched out my capabilites far more then I expected it to. I don't feel wholly comfortable reviewing material. At least it isn't my wheelhouse the same as the long form thought pieces that are typically lean towards. I hope it was enjoyed by the readership. I think I'm going to take a break from straightforward reviews after this for a bit. Usually my reviews aren't just on the album, it's more reflective on what the album represented or it's impact on the greater scene. This tighter focus on the material was nice as it made me sharpen my understanding of the projects.
I hope you guys enjoyed and discovered new stuff. September was a huge month and I enjoyed it tremendously.
Joe