This week, Jake Owen returns with a tender love song, while Luke Bryan offers a heartfelt tribute to late country singer-songwriter Dan Seals. INK and Karley Scott Collins gear up for debut projects by previewing them with new music, while The Foreign Landers also offer up a soothing new song.
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.
Jake Owen, “Long Time Lovin’ You”
Jake Owen returns with an acoustic-driven, harmonica-laced track about enduring love in a world filled with short-lived circumstances. “Everything in this life’s temporary/ There ain’t nothing ours to lose,” he vulnerably muses on this Kendell Marvel and Will Jones-written song. To be included on Owen’s November album Dreams to Dream, co-produced by Shooter Jennings, this song showcases Owen’s warm, burnished vocal at its best.
Luke Bryan with Dan Seals, “Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold)”
Luke Bryan pays homage to the late singer-songwriter Dan Seals by joining their two voices on a recording of Seals’s 1986 hit. The new collaboration, produced by Seals’s producer Kyle Lehning, honors Seals’s music 16 years after his passing in 2009. Both Seals and Bryan share warm, conversational singing styles that revere the craft of songwriting, and this collaboration serves as a potent recognition of Seals’ enduring impact on country music. The collaboration is part of an upcoming project of duets from Seals and Bryan.
INK, “Sweet Tea”
Having worked on albums including Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album and Kendrick Lamar’s GNX, including the massive hit “Luther,” artist-writer INK melds swells of hip-hop, rock and country, with lyrics centered on family, on the new song “Sweet Tea.” Heart-deep honesty is a hallmark of this new track, which doesn’t shy away from recounting childhood memories drawn from how INK’s family pulled together in times of sadness, tragedy and financial constraints. Throughout the track, INK’s vocal is bold and assured, marking INK as a formidable talent with a unique vision for her genre-blending sound.
“Sweet Tea” is included on INK’s upcoming EP Big Buskin‘, out Oct. 3.
Karley Scott Collins, “Denim”
As Karley Scott Collins prepares to release her debut album Flight Risk on Sept. 26, Collins releases this smokey, moody, rock-woven track. Here, she’s stinging with regret over a relationship that proved toxic. “Wish I’d never tried you on like denim,” he sings. Collins’ husky, assured voice is commanding and unique within the country music landscape. On the upcoming album, she’s also devoted herself to not only contributing as a writer on every song, but co-producing the project and even playing several instruments, including banjo, bass and violin. Taken together, Collins is quickly cementing herself as an artist-writer with a signature sound, and a standout among country music’s new crop of artists.
The Foreign Landers, “Smell the Rose”
This duo’s David Benedict (mandolin) and Tabitha Agnew Benedict (banjo) offer up a tender reminder to soak in the fleeting moments of simple goodness as they come. Tabitha’s honeyed vocals (along with harmonies from the song’s co-writer Danielle Yother) are surrounded by swaths of fiddle, mandolin and acoustic guitar. Together, they make for a serene balm of respite during turbulent times.
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