This week’s crop of new songs features Zac Brown Band teaming with Dolly Parton for an uplifting new track. Meanwhile, Brandi Carlile previews her upcoming album with the new anthem “Returning To Myself.” Collabs continue as Shaboozey teams with Stephen Wilson Jr. for a brooding, while NEEDTOBREATHE joins forces with The Red Clay Strays on a compelling song of redemption and grace.
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.
Zac Brown Band feat. Dolly Parton, “Butterfly”
Parton has long proven she’s exemplary at teaming with artists for inspiring collaborations, from her Brad Paisley collab “When I Get Where I’m Going,” to her Grammy-winning collabs with For King & Country and Zach Williams. Here, she teams with Zac Brown Band for an uplifting, soulful collaboration, with tightly-woven harmonies and lush strings, while Parton’s shimmering soprano is a perfect foil for Brown’s grainy, powerful voice. “You don’t have to practice anything that they preach,” they sing, coming together on a song about accepting one’s self and being unafraid to break free from unhealthy situations in a quest for peace.
Brandi Carlile, “Returning to Myself”
Carlile, an 11-time Grammy winner, previews her first solo album in four years, with this gorgeous title track. “Returning to Myself” ponders the benefits and costs of shifting from collaboration to self-focused efforts. “Oh, what an easy way to be/ Only kneeling at the altar of the great and mighty me,” Carlile sings, considering the heightened emotional merits of loving and helping those around oneself, but also the essentialness of prioritizing oneself. Along the way, it seems she finds that the two may not be mutually exclusive, as she sings, “Returning to myself is just returning me to you.” Carlile has spent the past few years as a key collaborator with artists including Joni Mitchell, Tanya Tucker and Elton John. Returning To Myself is out Oct. 24 via Interscope Records and Lost Highway.
Jackson Dean, “Make a Liar”
With his song “Heavens to Betsy” riding in the top 15 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, Dean releases this groovy track finds him feigning indifference to an ex-lover on lines such as “I don’t want you to want me/ You ain’t what I need,” but eventually those defensive walls crumble as he dares his ex to prove him wrong. Written by Dean with Luke Dick and Randy Montana, the new song has a slinky, sultry vibe, while showcasing Dean’s superb, soulful vocals.
Emily Ann Roberts, “Jack and Jill Daniel’s”
Roberts, who just signed a label deal with RECORDS/Sony Music Nashville, offers up a dramatic tale of heartbreak and betrayal that leads to life-changing success. “She put the fire in his heart/ He put the burn in the bottle,” Roberts sings, pouring just the right amount of spitfire twang into the track to make it steeped with believability. Written by Roberts, Trent Willmon, Ryan Beaver and Jeremy Spillman, “Jack and Jill Daniel’s” further builds Roberts’s reputation as a stellar singer-songwriter, with a voice and perspective wholly her own.
Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson, Jr., “Took a Walk”
Shaboozey, who just celebrated his second No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit with “Good News,” teams with Wilson Jr. on this song that’s featured as the ending theme in the film The Long Walk. This moody track explores the search for connection during life’s uncertain pathways, as Shaboozey sings, “The key to life is enjoying the journey/ When you don’t know the end.” Stately percussion and lush guitar work frame the artists’ commanding vocals, elevating the song’s sense of world-weary intensity.
NEEDTOBREATHE (feat. The Red Clay Strays), “Momma Loves Me”
NEEDTOBREATHE and The Red Clay Strays team up on this track written by NEEDTOBREATHE’s Bear Rinehart and produced by Dave Cobb. Together, the two groups wrap their soulful, gospel music-tinged harmonies around this song of forgiveness, grace and gratefulness. Restrained instrumentation keeps the focus on Rinehart and Red Clay Strays lead singer Brandon Coleman’s commanding voices. “I ain’t scared of where I’m going/ I ain’t proud of where I’ve been,” Rinehart sings, tracing a story of disappointments, wrong choices and painful consequences, but ultimately finding happiness in the unrelenting, freely-given love of a mother and belief in redemption. The two groups’ blend is strikingly powerful.
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