<\/p>\n
\n\tThis week, Riley Green<\/a> offers up a smoldering heartbreaker of a song, while Dolly Parton<\/a> reunites with bluegrass group The Grascals on an uplifting new track, and HARDY<\/a> and ERNEST<\/a> team up for a new song sounding a death knell for bro country.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n\tCheck out all of these and more in\u00a0Billboard<\/em>\u2018s roundup of some of the best country, bluegrass and\/or Americana songs of the week below.<\/p>\n \n\tRiley Green, \u201cMake It Rain\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tGreen has been making big career strides recently, thanks to flirty or sultry songs such as the Ella Langley collaboration \u201cYou Look Like You Love Me\u201d and his own \u201cWorst Way.\u201d But on his latest, from his Don\u2019t Mind If I Do <\/em>deluxe project, Green\u2019s voice brims with vulnerable remorse on this heartbreak ballad. Written by Green, Nick Walsh and Blake Pendergrass, the song\u2019s verses find Green detailing the various things he has no power to do: \u201cI can\u2019t make the wind blow or the sun come out,\u201d he sings. But by the chorus, he\u2019s self-recriminating over his ability to shatter a romantic relationship, or as he puts it, bring his ex-lover to tears and \u201cmake it rain.\u201d Flashes of intense, stormy guitar heighten the song\u2019s raw emotional feel. Overall, the track is a persuasive reminder of Green\u2019s prowess not only as a country vocalist, but as a songwriter.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Grascals and Dolly Parton, \u201cBroken Angels\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBluegrass 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.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI know my better self wants to shine through,\u201d 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\u2019s upcoming album and is a timely song that\u2019s well worth repeated listens.<\/p>\n \n\tHARDY and ERNEST, \u201cBro Country\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWhile launching his own artist career that toggles hard rock and country hits, HARDY was himself known for crafting some of country music\u2019s top \u201cbro country\u201d-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\u2019s essentially a musical farewell address to the passing of the \u201cbro country\u201d era. It isn\u2019t the first time HARDY has written a musical eulogy for country music (2023\u2019s \u201cHere Lies Country Music\u201d mourned the loss of old-school country). <\/p>\n \n\tThis new song, written by HARDY, ERNEST and Mark Holman, acknowledges the popularity and success of \u201cbro country,\u201d 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 \u201cbig boys with beards,\u201d noting that \u201cOutlaws with long hair\/ Yeah, they\u2019re back with a vengeance.\u201d Bringing in ERNEST (whose 2024 album Nashville, Tennessee<\/em>, is steeped in vintage country sounds) as both a co-writer and vocalist brings an added grit to the song.<\/p>\n \n\tSJ McDonald, \u201cHonky Tonk Pie\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tVirginia native McDonald has previously established herself as an artist who etches unflinchingly honest songs and has a \u201990s country-influenced sound, releasing songs such as \u201cRight Hand Man.\u201d In her latest, she details the anxiety-inducing lows of an artist paying dues in a quest for musical stardom, on lines such as \u201cslingin\u2019 cheap guitars, sleepin\u2019 in my car, countin\u2019 floorboard change.\u201d With McDonald\u2019s bright twang and the song\u2019s rolling rhythms and relentless energy, this song is a worthy addition to any rotation.<\/p>\n \n\tBaylee Lynn, \u201cCautiously Optimistic\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tNewcomer Lynn, 17, offers up equal parts bubbly pop-country with vulnerable songwriting on her debut single, \u201cCautiously Optimistic.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n \n\tLaci Kaye Booth, \u201cLuck of the Draw\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWith songs like \u201cDaddy\u2019s Mugshot\u201d and her latest, \u201cLuck of the Draw,\u201d 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. \u201cLife\u2019s a gamble anyway,\u201d she sings, as the song\u2019s exquisitely crafted, resigned-yet-resilient storyline is driven by Booth\u2019s 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Check out all of these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1992930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[309228],"class_list":["post-1992929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-genre-country"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Riley-Green-Dolly-Parton-More.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1992930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n