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It’s time for another of our weekly roundups of all the biggest and best new releases from the world of country and Americana.
This week we’ve got big new songs from Shaboozey & Stephen Wilson Jr., Brandi Carlile and Joshua Hedley. Plus lots more in our biggest ever Best New Country playlist.
Listen along to all the songs in the playlist on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music and YouTube.
Best New Country Cover Star
This week’s Best New Country cover star is Emily Ann Roberts. Always reimaging the recipes of what traditional classic country should be, the Knoxville singer follows up ‘Get Me Gone,’ her steamy Drew Baldridge duet from July with the equally brilliant ‘Jack & Jill Daniel’s.’
“As far back as I can remember I have loved hearing a good story,” she says about the song. “And while honesty is the best policy, some of the best stories stretch the truth a little bit. I was at a retreat writing with Ryan Beaver, Jeremy Spillman, and Trent Willman in January when this song was born. Ryan and Jeremy had the idea that maybe Jack Daniels was created to help him move on from Jill, and the rest is history.”
The single release rounds off a big week for the star that saw the former Team Blake singer from The Voice sign a new deal with RECORDS/Sony Nashville.
“They say Nashville is a 10 year town, and that would add up since I got into the music business back in 2015,” she wrote on her socials, alongside a long story about a dream where she forgets to put a bra on before a big meeting where she promises to keep working “her fanny off” for country music fans. “While this is a massive accomplishment, I know this is just the beginning.”
Watch the official visualizer for ‘Jack and Jill Daniel’s’ below
New Country and Americana Singles
Elsewhere in this week’s Best New Country playlist we’ve got new songs from Waylon Wyatt, Brennen Leigh and Jackson Dean, plus a double drop from Zac Brown Band with ‘Butterfly,’ featuring the one and only Dolly Parton,’ and ‘Give it Away.’
Cameron Whitcomb releases the title track to his highly anticipated new album, The Hard Way, a brutally honest account of his journey, from battling addiction at age 13 and losing his best friend to drugs, to leaving home at 17 to work on a Canadian oil pipeline, to being scouted on Reddit and becoming an American Idol Top 20 finalist and ultimately building his music career from scratch after the show with just $300 to his name.
Carter Faith teases another single ahead of her debut album Cherry Valley. ‘Arrows (Die for That Man),’ another slinky mini drama of brooding country from what promises to be a late entry for Album of the Year. While another contender for album of the year, Clover County releases her new single’Whiskey Cherry’ from her upcoming LP Finer Things, which comes out on 26 September.
“‘Whiskey Cherry’ is a playful diss track to a guy I dated who didn’t believe in much – especially not anything that made life feel magical,” shares Clover. “He’d roll his eyes whenever I mentioned angel numbers or little synchronicities, calling me ‘too witchy’ for his taste. Meanwhile, I was out here finding beauty in everything…including his boring ass. His drink of choice was always whiskey and Coke; I’ve always been a tequila girl. The song started in L.A., with collaborators Morgan Nagler and King Tuff, we had Courtney Barnett’s grit and vocal delivery in mind. By the time I recorded it in Nashville, I was channeling Shania Twain and Lainey Wilson’s fearless, feminine, country energy all the way.”
Sing along with the official ‘Whiskey Cherry’ lyric video below
We’ve got new songs from Cole Phillips, Max Alan, Sophie Gault and Ashley Ryan, while Holler fave Dylan Earl gives us ‘Two Kinds of Loner’ in the latest teaser from his fourth full-length album Level-Headed Even Smile.
Brit Taylor is back with a brand new song, ‘All For Sale,’ giving us all hope that a new album might be on the way sometime soon too.
“If this song doesn’t put you in a good mood and also make you wanna be a little bad, I don’t know what will!” shared Taylor. “My mom would call this song’s main character ‘plum rotten’ — that’s Appalachian for not being on your best behavior! I love the story we painted and the imagery in the song. It sings like a movie. You can’t help but play the scene in your head as the words pass by. From the first mandolin lick on the recording you can tell someone’s up to no good. The music mimics the feelings of being mischievous and being fed up that show up in the lyrics. It’s country, but heavily influenced by bluegrass. My favorite. Hillbilly twang with a beat.”
Elsewhere in this week’s Best New Country we’ve got new songs from Todd Snider, Drake White, Anne Wilson and Mae Estes. Plus, country girl group trio Just Jayne release their new single, ‘1+1’ and Grammy-nominated multi-platinum arena selling NEEDTOBREATHE team up with Red Clay Strays for ‘Momma Loves Me.’
Written by NEEDTOBREATHE’s Bear Rinehart, ‘Momma Loves Me’ brings together two generations of Southern musicians. The Red Clay Strays – who cite NEEDTOBREATHE as a major influence on their meteoric rise – join Rinehart in a heartfelt duet.
“I just knew Brandon and the band would relate to this song, because they’ve stayed completely true to what they believe, and that is so refreshing to me,” Rinehart says of recruiting the Strays. “I don’t think I have ever seen somebody have the kind of success they’re having and also be exactly who they are all the time.”
The collaboration began backstage in Brooklyn when Rinehart shared the demo with Strays frontman Brandon Coleman. Coleman, who grew up listening to NEEDTOBREATHE with his mother, immediately connected with the track.
“As soon as I heard the chorus, I was like, ‘Yes, we’ve got to do this,’” Coleman recalls. “I told him I would definitely love to sing on this song.”
“When you listen to the song, you can start reflecting on all the bad things that you’ve done, or get caught up in thoughts of how bad of a person you may have been,” Coleman explains. “But take a step back – remember that Momma loves you, you’re still born again – and everything’s going to be okay.”
Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb oversaw the production, ensuring the song’s heartfelt message and authenticity remained intact.
“Working with NEEDTOBREATHE and The Red Clay Strays on ‘Momma Loves Me’ was incredibly powerful to witness the love and admiration the two bands had for each other while recording,” Dave Cobb shared. “It was a pleasure to hear the raw power and truth delivered in each word that was sung. It’s a record that gives you hope.”
We’ve got super collabs from Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson Jr., who pair up for ‘Took a Walk’ from the new Stephen King movie of the same name, and Hannah McFarland and Chase Rice are ‘Foolin” in their tale of two pals who aren’t quite ready to admit their affection for each other.
“Having Chase on this song not only gives it more life, but it gave me a chance to work with one of my close friends on a project that I was already excited about since the day it was written,” says McFarland. “Can’t wait to get ‘Foolin’’ out into the world!”
“The first time Hannah and I wrote together, we wrote a really badass song. I knew she was talented, but I gained a new level of respect for her after that day,” Rice adds. “A little later on, when she played me a song that I could tell she was really excited about and asked if it’s something I’d record with her, it was an obvious yes. It’s the first country song I’ve ever been featured on, and I love that Hannah asked me of all people to be a part of it.”
Watch the video for ‘Foolin” below
We’ve got all that plus new songs from Brantley Gilbert, Cole Goodwin, Chayce Beckham and Adrien Nunez. Plus, Brandi Carlile announces her eighth studio album and first solo project in four years with the title track to her new album, ‘Returning To Myself.’
“I’m not my favorite person to spend my time with,” Carlile says about the new album. “Returning to myself is not just a lonely, but a painfully boring thing to do. So much so that I’m actually not at all interested in doing it. I prefer to double, triple, and quadruple down on co-dependency, which I’ve come to learn that outside of 12-Step programs and junior high school relationships, isn’t really that unhealthy at all… For me the key to learning to ‘be alone’ is not being alone at all. It’s being alone in a crowded room. It’s hearing an unexpected doorbell ring and wondering who has shown up to watch me read my book and bite my nails all day. That a guest can be a deep lean-in over a cheap bottle of wine or simply an eyebrow raise and a gesture toward the refrigerator while I play Zelda… where I totally choose myself with someone so close to me I can hear them relax.”
“People want to be together in silence more than we allow in our time,” she adds. “It’s falling deeply in love with the car wheels on a gravel road. The possibility of the visitor. The ‘not being alone-ness’ of it all… Togetherness has given me everything I love about being alive. Starting with my original family in a single wide mobile home, gathered around a wood stove all the way to living with my band, haunting my wife everywhere she goes, raising my children on a tour bus, learning at the feet of Joni Mitchell, to making music with my greatest hero of all time, Elton John. Why is it heroic to untether, when the tense work of togetherness is so much more interesting? …because I don’t want to do it. Because I don’t want to return to myself. And that’s why I will.”
Produced by Carlile, Andrew Watt, Aaron Dessner, and Justin Vernon, the album features ten songs, including the title track with a brand new video, directed by Floria Sigismondi.
Watch the video for ‘Returning To Myself’ below
New Country and Americana Albums and EPs
We’ve got new albums this week from Lanie Gardner, who releases Faded Polaroids, as she expands on the raw honesty of her 2024 debut A Songwriter’s Diary. The album offers a sonic scrapbook of self-discovery, family roots, romantic twists, and personal healing. Across 18 tracks, Gardner blends country storytelling with indie-rock grit, small-town pop, and boundary-free emotion, delivering a sound that’s uniquely her own.
Elsewhere, Cory Cross is Doin’ Fineon his new full length, Jonah Kagen releases Sunflowers and Leather andJack Van Cleaf gives JVC the deluxe treatment, while Liam St John releases the powerful Man Of The North.
Plus, we’ve got some great new EPs from Belles, Maya Lane, Greazy Alice and Daniel Jeffers, while Graham Barham drops his new WHISKEY RAIN EP.
Spotlight Song of the Week
Every week we like to turn our Holler spotlight up on a record that we feel deserves a little extra light shining on it and this one feels very special this week.
Fans of old timey C&W will be in for an absolute treat today as they wake up to the news of a new posthumous album from Luke Bell announced with the release of the title track, ‘The King is Back.’
He only released one official album during his lifetime, delivering a mix of honky-tonk shuffles and Bakersfield barnburners in a voice as magnetic as his own personality. He toured briefly, graduating from career-launching gigs in the dive bars of Austin and Nashville to bucket-list shows opening for Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam. And then he disappeared from the public eye to privately wage a war with the mental illness that eventually claimed his life. He was just 32 years old.
Tracked between November 2013 and August 2016, these 28 songs capture Luke in his artistic prime, spinning stories about blue-collar workers, heartbroken ramblers, and the personal struggles that bind us together. The King is Back isn’t just a career retrospective; it’s also a reminder of the timeless catalog that Bell built in three short years, pairing the vintage vibes of golden-era country music with lyrics that tackled the human condition.
“‘The King is Back’ captures the feeling of being back on top after a low period,” his mother Carol Bell reflects about the album’s title track. “Luke’s friend and bandmate Steve Daly said Luke hadn’t mapped out any solos or spots for big hooks, he’d simply said that whatever they played needed to sound cocky, as if something was about to happen. Like ‘The Bullfighter,’ this song is about a state of mind and it’s multilayered. We can all relate to the feelings of relief and excitement when we wake up feeling strong after a period of feeling poor and hungry. We can all relate to waking up ready to seize the day after a period of hopelessness.”
All proceeds from the album release will support The Luke Bell Memorial Affordable Counseling Program, a non-profit organization founded by Carol and sister Jane Bell that supports Big Horn Basin residents by providing vouchers for up to ten sessions with a therapist of the individual’s choice
“It’s a meaningful way for Luke to give back to his community,” Carol says of the album’s charitable purpose. “A lot of Luke’s songs feature brave, cocksure characters who are hiding some kind of pain, and I think Luke was writing about himself, even though the songs weren’t always autobiographical. I also see traces of Luke in funny songs like ‘Orangutang,’ which might be about a Wyoming kid who wound up in Nashville, feeling like an ape who just escaped the zoo. The willingness to be silly and ridiculous, for the sake of fun — that’s very much like Luke, too.”
“He changed the way we see the world,” his mother adds. “He helped us see people we didn’t always notice before, and he helped remind us how much they matter.”
Watch the video for ‘The King is Back’ below
Check out this week’s new country and americana song releases and listen to the full playlist below:
1.
Jack & Jill Daniel’s
Emily Ann Roberts
2.
Took a Walk
Shaboozey & Stephen Wilson Jr.
3.
Butterfly (feat. Dolly Parton)
Zac Brown Band
4.
Arrows (Die For That Man)
Carter Faith
6.
Momma Loves Me (feat. Red Clay Strays)
NEEDTOBREATHE
7.
Foolin’ (with Chase Rice)
Hannah McFarland
8.
How Long ‘Til Tennessee
Lanie Gardner
9.
The King Is Back
Luke Bell
11.
The Hard Way
Cameron Whitcomb
13.
Boogie Woogie Tennessee
Joshua Hedley
14.
Whiskey Cherry
Clover County
16.
Roll of Dice
Cole Phillips
17.
Ocean Blue
Chayce Beckham
19.
Sunflowers and Leather
Jonah Kagen
21.
Returning To Myself
Brandi Carlile
23.
Two Kinds of Loner
Dylan Earl
25.
I Never Miss Him Anymore
Jessie James Decker and Joss Stone
27.
Messin’ With My Mind
Cole Goodwin
28.
Honky Tonk Heartbeat
Annie Bosko
29.
Beneath the Hood
Max Alan
31.
Whiskey Rain (feat. Tyler Hubbard)
Graham Barham
32.
808s & 6 STRINGS
Adrien Nunez
34.
Matches & Gasoline
Noah Rinker
36.
Heartlands
The Marcus King Band
37.
Remember Katrina?
Jack Van Cleaf
38.
Ready For The Takin’ (When You Are)
Trace Nixon
39.
Get Down On Your Knews And Pray
Dierks Bentley and The Band Loula
40.
Give It Away
Zac Brown Band
41.
Know This (feat. Miley Cyrus)
Braison Cyrus
42.
Can’t Hide Country
Colt Ford and Tyler Booth
43.
Every Next Woman
Madison Hughes
44.
For the First Time
William Prince
45.
Look At Me
Chevy Beaulieu
46.
Fire in the Sky
Ashley Ryan
47.
Call It Home – A Song for North Dakota
Tigirlily Gold
49.
His Song (What’s a Man Supposed to Be)
Colby Acuff
51.
Reckoning
Jessica Simpson
52.
Workin’ Man Blues
Willie Nelson
53.
Country Tonight
Noah Hicks
55.
Parking Lot
Lakelin Lemmings
56.
Real Good Night
Runaway June
57.
The Other Side
Brendan Walter
58.
Day One (feat. Madeline Merlo)
Adam Doleac
59.
Want You Back
Brantley Gilbert
60.
Dyin’ Flame (feat. T-Pain)
Tayler Holder
61.
Nights on Fire
Drake White
62.
Built for Burning
David J
64.
Shuttin Down The Holler
Don Louis
65.
Blue Lights
James Barker Band
66.
Just Another One
Greazy Alice
68.
Humanitarian Raid
Jordan Smart
69.
It Won’t Be Long
John Kaillan
70.
Somethin Bout You
Elijah Scott
72.
Different After All
Cooper Ledford
73.
Wish I Was Blocked
Catt McCreary
74.
Cul-De-Sac-Kid
Jess Jocoy
76.
Maybe Next Month
Jenny Tolman
77.
The Bridge
Mike Reid and Joe Henry
79.
Did You Make It Through the Night Okay
Grant-Lee Phillips
81.
If I Were My Father
Liam St. John
82.
Do Me a Favor
Daniel Jeffers
84.
Love Don’t Love Me
Deltona
87.
Tears To Cry
Jonas Conner
88.
Calling Home
Todd Cameron
91.
Same Old Tunes
Danny Anderson
92.
Miss Carolina
Blake Proehl
93.
Guys That Leave
Grace Leer
94.
For You (Katie’s Song)
Brian Fuller
95.
Mountains by Morning
Peytan Porter
98.
Letting You Go
Hayden Baker
99.
WHILE WE STILL HAVE A CHANCE
Todd Snider
100.
The One Who Remembers
The Grahams
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source holler.country ’
