Here are some of the top new releases for the week of 21/02/2020.
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. If you’re a Spotify user, give it a follow so you can keep up to date!
Ashley McBryde – First Thing I Reach For
Well, we’ve now had 4 tracks from Ashley’s upcoming new album Never Will and they’ve each sounded different, had a different vibe. This song leans closer to traditional country feels, with fiddle and pedal steel to the fore as she bemoans, “The first thing I reach for, is the last thing I need”. The much anticipated album itself is released on 3rd April.
Kenny Chesney – Here and Now
Kenny’s been teasing at a new album this year, but nothing definite has been annouced so far. So Here and Now will have to do for, well, here and now. Kicks off with a classic rock guitar riff, and the rock keeps rolling throughout. Here and Now points at the here and now being the best place to be, and not wasting time wishing for something else.
Kolby Cooper – By Your Side
Kolby Cooper is a young Texan making big strides in the scene over there. He’s just released a deluxe edition of his debut album Good Ones Never Last with three additional tracks. By Your Side is one of them, a looking back to things his father taught him as a child and how he’s reminded of them now with his own young fanily.
Raelynn – Keep Up
You have to hand it to Raelynn. She’s probably the sassiest, rowdiest, redneck-est(!) lady in mainstream country right now, and in Corey Crowder she has a creative partner who helps her to deliver that whole party thing while keeping the writing quality high. Keep Up being a prime example, it’s a high grade party banger with some smart lyrics that project that whole persona of hers – she’s a lot of fun to have around but don’t underestimate her, you gotta work hard to keep up!
Tim Hicks – No Truck Song
The Wreck EP is Tim Hick’s first release since 2018’s New Tattoo album. And when he says this is No Truck Song, he’s right – although the lyric has just about every truck song reference you could think of, and the tune is classic dirt road, it’s actually a break-up song masquerading as a truck song(!). Give it a listen and you’ll see what we mean.
Tucker Beathard – You Would Think
You Would Think finds Tucker reflecting on a broken relationship and thinking that surely something would cause that lost love to think of him. “You would think some song, you would think some place | You would think some look on a strangers face | Would ring a bell, or hurt like hell, or make you feel something is missing | And if you wonder what it might be | You would think you’d think of me”. Good job for us that nothing did – otherwise we wouldn’t have this new track.
Adam Hambrick – Midnight In Montgomery
This cover of the Alan Jackson classic was originally released last year as part of an Amazon exclusive project, but it’s now been given a welcome wider release. Hambrick has pepp’ed the original tempo up a little and given it a contemporary production that heightens the eerie atmosphere, and that gghostly, wailing pedal steel is still there. Fans of the original are unlikely to be swayed but this recording will introduce the song to a new generation of country fans, and that’s no bad thing.