This week, Riley Green offers up a smoldering heartbreaker of a song, while Dolly Parton reunites with bluegrass group The Grascals on an uplifting new track, and HARDY and ERNEST team up for a new song sounding a death knell for bro country.
Check out all of these and more in Billboard‘s roundup of some of the best country, bluegrass and/or Americana songs of the week below.
Riley Green, “Make It Rain”
Green has been making big career strides recently, thanks to flirty or sultry songs such as the Ella Langley collaboration “You Look Like You Love Me” and his own “Worst Way.” But on his latest, from his Don’t Mind If I Do deluxe project, Green’s voice brims with vulnerable remorse on this heartbreak ballad. Written by Green, Nick Walsh and Blake Pendergrass, the song’s verses find Green detailing the various things he has no power to do: “I can’t make the wind blow or the sun come out,” he sings. But by the chorus, he’s self-recriminating over his ability to shatter a romantic relationship, or as he puts it, bring his ex-lover to tears and “make it rain.” Flashes of intense, stormy guitar heighten the song’s raw emotional feel. Overall, the track is a persuasive reminder of Green’s prowess not only as a country vocalist, but as a songwriter.
The Grascals and Dolly Parton, “Broken Angels”
Bluegrass group The Grascals team with Dolly Parton on this uplifting track, which takes on issues of depression and addiction while being an uplifting encouragement to those recovering or in the midst of the struggle. The Grascals and Parton have had a longstanding creative kinship, with The Grascals touring with Parton early on. The Grascals co-founder Jamie Johnson co-wrote the song with Parton.
“I know my better self wants to shine through,” they sing, their voices melding into warm, striking harmony as the lyrics plead for strength to keep aiming for a newfound peace. The tender song is bolstered by fiddle work from Jimmy Mattingly and Jamie Harper. The song also marks the debut single from The Grascals’s upcoming album and is a timely song that’s well worth repeated listens.
HARDY and ERNEST, “Bro Country”
While launching his own artist career that toggles hard rock and country hits, HARDY was himself known for crafting some of country music’s top “bro country”-era hits for artists such as Florida Georgia Line and Morgan Wallen in the mid-2010s. On his latest, he teams with fellow country singer-songwriter ERNEST to craft what’s essentially a musical farewell address to the passing of the “bro country” era. It isn’t the first time HARDY has written a musical eulogy for country music (2023’s “Here Lies Country Music” mourned the loss of old-school country).
This new song, written by HARDY, ERNEST and Mark Holman, acknowledges the popularity and success of “bro country,” while chronicling the shift in sounds over the past several years as more traditional-leaning country sounds come to the forefront. Frank lyrics, with just a bit of snark, depict the rise of “big boys with beards,” noting that “Outlaws with long hair/ Yeah, they’re back with a vengeance.” Bringing in ERNEST (whose 2024 album Nashville, Tennessee, is steeped in vintage country sounds) as both a co-writer and vocalist brings an added grit to the song.
SJ McDonald, “Honky Tonk Pie”
Virginia native McDonald has previously established herself as an artist who etches unflinchingly honest songs and has a ’90s country-influenced sound, releasing songs such as “Right Hand Man.” In her latest, she details the anxiety-inducing lows of an artist paying dues in a quest for musical stardom, on lines such as “slingin’ cheap guitars, sleepin’ in my car, countin’ floorboard change.” With McDonald’s bright twang and the song’s rolling rhythms and relentless energy, this song is a worthy addition to any rotation.
Baylee Lynn, “Cautiously Optimistic”
Newcomer Lynn, 17, offers up equal parts bubbly pop-country with vulnerable songwriting on her debut single, “Cautiously Optimistic.” The captures the emotional tension of potential love after heartbreak, toggling between fear and the desire to trust in a fledgling new romance. Written by Lynn with AJ Pruis, Kyle Sturrock and Brett Tyler, this first outing from Lynn admirably blends her youthful vocal charisma with a sense of plucked-from-her-own-story relatability.
Laci Kaye Booth, “Luck of the Draw”
With songs like “Daddy’s Mugshot” and her latest, “Luck of the Draw,” Booth is cementing her reputation as a singer-songwriter who pulls no punches and refuses to water down her sound or her message. In her latest, she sings of trying to make sense of rising rents, rising drug use, and a plethora of other personal and societal challenges as an exercise in futility. “Life’s a gamble anyway,” she sings, as the song’s exquisitely crafted, resigned-yet-resilient storyline is driven by Booth’s enchanting, feather-light vocal. Booth wrote the song with Ryman Wooten and Ben West. The track follows her 2024 album The Loneliest Girl in the World.
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