Listen to my favorite tracks off each album on my Spotify or Tidal playlists! Updated weekly with all the best new country, Americana, and whatever else I feel like — this is music like your life depends on it.
Danielle Nicole — The Love You Bleed
If you are looking for killer guitar than Danielle Nicole has that covered. The Love You Bleed is blues rock at its best. There’s lots of new love, lost love (of course), frustrated love, and it all sounds awesome. Nicole’s band is tight, seeming to psychically insert just the write hooks and fills at the time your brain is itching for it. But there’s also a fluidity that comes with great skill, and Nicole’s arena-ready voice brings the whole package together. No matter how you’re feeling about love right now, The Love You Bleed will hit the right note for you.
Randall King — Into the Neon
Randall King isn’t going to set the world on fire with Into the Neon, but sometimes you don’t have to. I’ve been following King since my days of writing for The Boot and he is a traditionalist through and through. Do you want some clever songs about partying, finding love, losing love, quitting whiskey, and starting the cycle all over again? Into The Neon has got it, and what’s refreshing is that King’s approach is as sincere, warm, and loving as if all of this was brand new.
Tyler Edwards — A Falling Sky
We highlighted Tyler Edwards some time ago and I am finally getting around to reviewing the album. (Sorry, Tyler.) A Falling Sky is worth the wait, imo. This carefully considered work is contemplative and loving. Edwards centers himself in minimal acoustic and pop production — “All My Heroes” should be on the radio and I had to Google the lyrics to make sure it wasn’t a cover — but that doesn’t make these songs any less warm. Even as Edwards confronts life’s disappointments, this is an album for staying open and appreciative no matter what comes at you.
Have Gun Will Travel — Silver Sounds
No, sorry — there isn’t any brand new Have Gun Will Travel that I’m aware of; I just didn’t get around to Silver Sounds when it first came out. This EP serves as a palate cleanser to Strange Chemistry, a painful dive through obtaining a mental health diagnosis. Instead, Silver Sounds sets us up for what HGWT does best: wistful songs yearning for a better time, knowing it might not come. They also bring some of that steel from Chemistry with “Resist the Machines,” a song that would sound at home on the cusp of new wave and into post-punk. “Dystopia” combines the “old” and “new” HGWT, in a lovely and unflinching look at the bad stuff surrounding us and what it takes to persevere.
Helene Cronin — Landmarks
Landmarks deserved way more of a to-do when it came out last year. Helene Cronin demonstrates mastery of her craft, tales of hard-won experience delivered through smooth, self-assured country music. “What They Didn’t Build” is as defiant an anti-capitalist country song as you’ll find, while “Between Me and the Road” is the unusual road song about being content with one’s lot. “Just A Woman” is breathtaking, one in a line of several over the past few years that imagines the struggles women have faced across space and time — and the resilience necessary to live in a patriarchal society.
You can check out tracks by these artists and more on the Adobe & Teardrops playlist — on Spotify or Tidal.