Here are some of our top new releases for the week of 10/06/2019…
All of this week’s new tracks are also on our New Release Round-up playlist on Spotify, along with every other song we’ve included in this feature during the year so far. The playlist is at the bottom of the page – if you’re a Spotify user, give it a follow!
Midland – Put The Hurt On Me
The second track from the new album Let It Roll see’s the guys in a reflective mood. A yearning guitar matched by Mark Wystrach’s vocal, and harmonies that could have been lifted from a classic Eagle’s song.
Bruce Springsteen – Western Stars
We’re rather taken by the tracks we’ve heard so far from Springsteen’s new album (released today), and the title track is no exception. The tale of an aging Hollywood bit-part actor reduced to filming commercials for credit cards and Viagra features Bruce’s distinctive drawling delivery all over it, and with the string arrangements echoing a classic Elmer Bernstein score it’s a great combination.
Montgomery Gentry – What Am I Gonna Do (With The Rest Of My Life)
This cover of the Merle Haggard classic is from the new Montgomery Gentry EP, Outskirts. The track opens with Eddie Montgomery’s voice unaccompanied which accentuates the heartbreak of the lyric, and from there on it’s dripping in wrought emotion.
Sturgill Simpson – The Dead Don’t Die
The first new music from Simpson in what feels like a long time is the theme song to a new film by Jim Jarmusch. In one sense, the lyric relates the idea of of afterlife where spirits continue to wander the towns where they lived and the comfort the bereaved might find in that. In another sense, it’s the theme to a zombie movie and that gives the words a whole different aspect! The point is, both settings work. It’s all set to a classic 1970’s style country arrangement, mid-tempo, fiddle, pedal steel, piano. If Simpson is moving towards a rockier style in future as he has suggested, then this is a fine farewell – and maybe a touchstone for him to return to sometime in the future.
Brantley Gilbert – The Man That Hung The Moon
Everyone has a past, and for stars and celebrities in this day and age that past is all out there on the internet for all to see. Every father knows the day will come when their child no longer sees them as some kind of hero, but rather as a man much like any other. Brantley Gilbert has had his ups and downs, and this gentle ballad is his attempt to get ahead of the story for his young son.
Logan Mize – Something Just Like This
Another song referencing hero characters, the new release from Logan Mize is a cover of the Chainsmokers & Coldplay hit from a couple of years ago. It’s a more organic arrangement with some heavy drums in the chorus, and driving guitar riffs replacing most of the synth stabs of the original. Mize avoids any attempt at Chris Martin’s falsetto – probably wisely.
Whiskey Myers – Die Rockin’
A trademark slice of Southern Rock from Cody Cannon and the boys. Think AC/DC’s Highway To Hell with handclaps and a gospel choir, and this is what you might come up with.
Chris Young – Drowning
A total contrast to his last single Raised On Country, this emotional ballad deals with the anguish and sorrow of losing a loved one. The simple arrangement leaves all the room for the voice to put the lyric across, and it perfectly suits Young’s voice and style.